Mission Solangelo
by kendizzlekendy
Summary: The story tells how Nico and Will got together and describes the 7 and friends' meddling. POV alternates just like in the Heroes of Olympus. We start at the beginning of Nico's three days in the infirmary and continue forwards. This is a very fluffy/funny fic. Some chapters, especially after solangelo is together, will basically be one shots per chapter. (Cover photo is not mine)
1. Chapter 1- Will

Will

"Come along Death Boy! Your recovery starts now!" Will called as he opened up the door to the Hades Cabin. Nico had just returned from an apparently flabbergasting conversation with Percy. Will didn't ask any questions, though. Instead he walked with Nico to his cabin.

"Are you actually serious about this?" Nico grumbls, Will grins.

"Serious? I'm always serious," Nico glares at him, "Should I remind you that you promised on the River Styx?" Will adds.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with." Nico snaps and starts to head out the door.

"Woah, woah, woah. First, don't act like you won't be happy to have an excuse to be away from everyone here. I know that you feel uncomfortable around them. Second, spending time in the infirmary will be good for you and I can't be THAT bad of company. Third, you are not going on bed rest in torn up jeans and a tattered Hawaiian shirt. Go put on some sweat pants or something."

"What?" Nico asked flatly.

"You heard me. Chop chop." Will says.

"You can't be serious,"

"Deadly serious I'm afraid."

"Solace," Nico closed his eyes and took a breath through his nose, "You are seriously pushing my limits."

"'course I am! That's me. Always the one to push boundaries." Will grinned, "Now, seriously. Change your clothes. Doctor's orders."

"Firstly, you do realize I could kill you right?" Nico growled, "I am literally the son of the God of the Underworld-

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm the son of the God of Music but I can't sing worth a hoot. Even if you COULD kill me, you wouldn't." Will grinned.

"And why is that?" Nico asked quietly.

"Because I'm your friend." Will said simply. _And you think I'm cute…_ he thought, but then chided himself. Now was not the time for his father's flirtatious nature to get the better of him.

Nico was quiet for a long time before taking a breath and continuing on like he hadn't heard Will, "Secondly, I don't have any clothes here, let alone sweatpants you pretentious-

"I thought you might say that!" Will interjected, grinning broadly. He could tell he was getting under Nico's skin, but he also knew the son of Hades didn't hate him as much as he'd like to pretend, "Which is why I brought these!"

Will pulled a pair of black sweat pants and an orange camp half blood tee shirt from the side of the door. Nico gaped at him like a fish out of water.

"Are- Are those yours?" NIco stammered.

"Yep! Don't worry! I washed them! Now go get changed!" Will tossed the clothes at Nico and closed the door. He needed a moment to get a grip on himself.

Will could feel his heart rate slowing back to a normal rate as he waited for Nico to get changed. He didn't scare Will, but something about his presence put Will on edge. His heart raced. He had to focus and make sure he didn't say something idiotic.

He'd always thought Nico was cute. However, he'd never had much chance to really talk to him until the almost battle with the Romans and the actual battle against Gaea and her forces. After the battle he hadn't heard from Nico until today. He thought that he may have misread the small signs of friendship that he had sworn he saw when they were battling the earth mother.

Yet here they were. Gaea was gone and Nico had agreed to spend three entire days in the infirmary under Will's supervision. Will wasn't sure if the thought of being around Nico for so long made him nervous or if all the emotional and physical pain the boy experienced did.

Not that Will knew anything about Nico's pain… He just had an instinct. Maybe it was an Apollo thing. He could just get a vibe off people. He could guess what was hurting them, but he couldn't do that with Nico. Not because Nico was unreadable, but because there were so many problems he wasn't sure where to start. They all merged together until Will couldn't discern an individual ailment. He could only tell that an immense amount of pain swirled around Nico. It was more than he had every seen in one person.

"Alright. Let's go, Solace," Nico pulled Will from his musings. He looked at the doorway to see a grumpy looking Nico wearing the most colorful clothes he'd ever seen him in.

Nico looked so different. He was small, but very lean and he looked pretty freaking adorable in Will's too large sweatpants and an orange camp tee shirt. His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of the sweat pants and he looked very uncomfortable.

At this moment Jason Grace chose to appear as Will's savior. His arrival prevented Will from saying something he was certain he would regret. Jason looked at Nico for a few seconds, his mouth slightly ajar, and then practically jumped up and down.

"Oh my gods, Nico! You look-

"Jason. I swear. Do not say it" Nico growled, his eyes flashing.

"ADORABLE!" Jason finished, grinning.

"Right. Well. Solace is in a rush. Gotta go." Nico said and hurridly walked away. As he passed Will he grabbed his arm and drug him along. Was that a blush Will saw on Nico's face as he hurried them away? Once they got close to the infirmary Nico released Will and slowed to a normal pace.

"Sorry." Nico said flatly.

"Uh… You're fine." Will said… _More than fine…Shut up, Will!_ Will was not thinking like himself. He shook his head. His arm tingled where Nico had touched him.

"When you do that you look like a dog." Nico stated, obviously referring to the head shaking. Will grinned.

"Well… Everyone loves dogs… and everyone loves Will Solace… So I'm taking that as a compliment!" Will laughed.

"I'm more of a cat person," Nico grumbled.

"Maybe, but you still like me."

"I hate you,"

"No you don't,"

"How do you know?"

"If you did, you wouldn't have agreed to your treatment!" Will chirped.

"Treatment? I thought I was just getting bed rest and enough attention to make up for all my daddy issues," Nico asked.

"What? Daddy issues?" Will felt his face redden as he looked at Nico. Then he realized Nico was making a joke and practically burst with laughter.

"It really wasn't that funny, Solace." Nico said, "It was honestly a pretty pathetic attempt at humor."

Will continued to laugh. He had never heard the so called Ghost King make a joke. Eventually his laughter died down to spontaneous giggles. Will could have sworn he saw Nico crack a slight smile as they walked, but it was gone almost as soon as in appeared.

"We're here, Doc. You can stop laughing now," Nico grumbled as they arrived at the infirmary.

"Right…" Will laughed again, "Well, come on then, Death Boy! Off to bed with you!"


	2. Chapter 2- Will

Nico was a lot worse off than he would ever admit or show. Will had taken his vitals and ran lots of tests, both magical and scientific. Getting Nico to give a few vials of blood was easy. Nico was a sucker for pain. Will could tell he was one of those broken people who had suffered too much too young and he didn't know how to cope with it so he became addicted to it instead.

What Will didn't realize was how horribly losing blood would affect Nico. He had been sitting up while the blood was drawn, watching it with his typical dark and brooding gaze. Will finished off the vials and bandaged up Nico's arm and whatnot. When Will looked up at Nico he noticed his face was unusually pale.

"Nico… You okay?" Will asked, worry tinging his thoughts.

"I.. I'm fine. I just- just really don't think all that was…necess-"

Nico's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell forward off the table. Instinctively, Will reacted and caught him.

"Woah. Nico. Hey, it's okay. Let's lay down, alright?" Will laid Nico down on the bed he had previously been sitting on. Will quickly checked his pulse. He was raising Nico's feet when he regained consciousness.

"What… What are you doing?!" Nico stammered, looking confused but irritated.

"You fainted." Will said point blank.

"What? No I didn't."

"Yes you did," Will said, putting a few pillows under Nico's calves to keep the blood flowing to his head. Nico glared at him the whole time.

"It's okay Nico. It's not anything to be embarrassed about. Not everyone can lose blood and feel just fine and dandy afterwards. I shouldn't have taken so much. I'm sorry." Will said, moving around to stand next to Nico's head.

"I swear, if you tell anyone I fainted I'll-

"You'll what? Send a zombie after me? Besides, doctor patient confidentiality. Not to mention, I'm a nice guy. I wouldn't go telling people you faint when you lose blood." Will told Nico, searching his patient's eyes.

Nico mumbled something Will didn't catch and he grinned.

"Someone is a sleepy Death Boy. It's okay. You should definitely catch some Zs. You've had a hard…" What was the right word? Week, month, life? "Time." Will managed.

"Shut up, Solace. I don't need your pity." Nico grunted, trying to sit up. Immediately he collapsed back against the bed covering his eyes with his palms.

"Head rush? What did I tell you? Rest, Nico. You're not invincible. You need rest."

Nico's response was full of curses, but Will just smiled.

"Someone is a grumpy Death Boy when they're sleepy." He laughed.

Nico glared at him, but his eyes were already closing.

"You should be afraid of me…" He managed, "I could… destroy…you." Then Nico was asleep. Will sighed.

"I'm never going to be afraid of you, Death Boy." He said, even though Nico couldn't hear him, "I see you for what you are. A good heart who's experienced too much pain. I'm a doctor. I'm supposed to heal people, so that's what I'm going to do for you." He brushed Nico's hair out of his face. Then he grinned.

"Plus, you're cute. Especially when you're trying to look evil or terrifying." Will whispered, chuckling to himself.


	3. Chapter 3- Will

Nico was an incredibly heavy sleeper Will noted. He passed out and didn't even notice when Will changed his bandages and whatnot. Will was constantly taking his temperature and running tests. He did the best he could to heal Nico as much as possible while he slept because he knew Nico wouldn't turn up in the infirmary often.

It was nice to help him. That's why Will loved healing people. He got to know them and ease their pain. He took their burdens and made them feel better. Will wanted to make Nico feel better. He also wanted to spend time with him. After all Nico had done for the camp healing him was the least Will could do.

Nico had been out for a few hours and Will had just finished healing the werewolf scratches on his arms when Nico's nightmares started.

"No…" Nico murmured, making Will think he was awake and protesting to Will's hand being on his forehead. Will was checking for a fever, but when he heard Nico talking he was surprised to find that the other boy was still asleep.

Will waited a few seconds and then Nico started to toss and turn in his bed.

"No… No… I… I can't…" Nico stammered, clawing at the sheets.

Will wasn't sure what to do. Then Nico started thrashing around and Will hurried to soothe his patient.

"Shhhh… Nico. Nico. Shhhhh it's okay," Will whispered frantically. He tried to calm him but it was all he could do to keep Nico in bed while he was experiencing this nightmare.

"It's… No… No… It's alive… Tar- Tartarus… No… GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Nico screamed.

"Nico. Wake up. It's okay. Nico, you aren't in Tartarus anymore! Nico!" Will cried, grabbing Nico's shoulders.

Suddenly, Nico's eyes flew open and he lunged at Will, knocking them both to the floor. Nico frantically tried to attack Will, but, thankfully, barely awake Nico was no match for fully awake Will.

Will grabbed Nico around the middle and hauled him back into the bed. He sat at the side and held Nico by the shoulders. The boy's eyes were wild and he still didn't look fully awake.

"Nico. It's okay. Look at me, Death Boy," Will said, gently grabbing either side of Nico's face and making him look into Will's eyes, "You are safe, okay? You're safe. You're not there anymore."

"I… I… I'm so sorry." Nico stammered, apparently realizing what had happened, "I could've killed you. Are you okay?"

"Am I okay!?" Will asked incredulously, "Nico, I'm fine. Are you okay? Were you having a nightmare about being in Tartarus? I know that Percy and Jason said something about you being in there alone, but I didn't realize… I guess I didn't process… Do you want to talk about it?"

Judging from the look in Nico's eyes the walls had gone back up and Will knew they weren't going to have an open heart to heart discussion as much as Will pushed.

"Nico. I know you don't want to talk about it, and that's okay… Just know that I'm here, okay? If you ever do want to talk, I'll listen. Even if you just want to be around someone afterwards, I'd be more than happy to spend time with you." Will said, looking intently at Nico's face.

"Yeah… Okay… Thanks." Nico said, "What time is it?"

Will sighed. Nico was not an easy person to get to know, but he wasn't going to give up.

"It's about 9:30 pm. I suggest you try and go back to sleep." Will said, standing up, "I'm going to go check on a few other patients, okay?"

"Alright," Nico mumbled as he rolled onto his stomach under the covers. Will figured he'd want some privacy after that episode. He figured waking up to Will and knowing Will had seen it all would be a little embarrassing.

Will just hoped that one day Nico would let him in.

When he returned to Nico's room an hour or so later Will found Nico mumbling and turning around in his sleep. Obviously his dreams weren't pleasant. Will doubted they ever were.

Will approached the bed and tentatively placed his hand on Nico's forehead. Maybe some healing magic would help soothe Nico's nightmares. Maybe Will could help him get some actual rest for once.

"Nico, you're burning up!" Will said in surprise. Even more surprisingly, Nico answered Will's exclamation. His fitful sleep obviously causing him to be in some weird partially conscious state.

"I'm… Hot…" Nico mumbled.

"Yeah… Yeah you are…" Will said then felt his face redden, "I mean… You feel like you have a fever."

Will went to get a cold washcloth to put on Nico's forehead but Nico grabbed Will's hand. Will felt a tingling sensation spread through his entire body as he turned back to Nico. Will was surprised by how cold Nico's hands were considering the heat of his forehead.

"You're… hot…" He mumbled. Will's eyes widened, "Living people… are so… warm… Dead people… ghosts… are cold… I'm cold…" Nico drifted back off to sleep and released his hold on Will's arm.

"Yeah…. I guess living people are warm… I guess you of all people would know the difference and for that I'm sorry, Nico… You don't have to spend your entire life with the dead…" Will whispered.

He went and grabbed the washcloth and spent the next hour getting rid of Nico's fever, cooling his face and finding extra blankets for his bed. After Will was comfortable with Nico's body temperature, he turned to some healing magic to hopefully ease off Nico's nightmares. At least for three nights Will was determined that Nico would get a good night's sleep.

Will couldn't help but stay with Nico that night. After the nightmare incident that had happened earlier he couldn't imagine leaving Nico alone to deal with them on his own. If they started back up Will could hopefully use some more of his father's gift to ease Nico back to sleep.

The sad thing was that Nico always had to deal with them alone. He was always alone, and Will desperately wanted to change that. He was a healer. He wanted to heal the hurts he knew Nico had… Maybe that was why he felt so drawn to him…

Will knew that wasn't the only reason, though. He loved fixing up people, not that there was anything wrong with Nico besides obviously poor mental health and constant near death experiences from his underwold magic. Nico was also everything that Will was not and Will loved that.

Nico was strong. He fought for what he believed in. He defended camp while all Will did was deliver a baby and get chased by Romans. He wished he could do something like that. He wished he was able to fight. He was a good healer, but even still, he couldn't save everyone. Will looked at his hands in disgust. He felt drawn to Nico because Nico exemplified all the things Will wished he was.

Yet, Will could tell that Nico didn't see himself that way. He didn't appreciate what he did. He thought of himself as a freak. He purposefully chose to be alone. He refused to believe anyone could like him because he didn't like himself.

Without thinking, Will took Nico's hands in his for a moment. He wished he could show Nico all the great things that his hands could do. All the things that Will wished he could do… If only Nico could see him the way that Will saw him. He was an irritatingly stubborn annoyance, but he was brave and he saved people. He saved the entire camp. He was possibly the strongest person Will had ever met, yet he hated himself.

Will was going to have to change that.


	4. Chapter 4- Nico

Nico slept for an entire day. He woke up around 1 am of his second day in the infirmary. His was all bandaged up and he was still wearing Will's sweat pants and tee shirt. They smelled like sunshine and grass and the outdoors. It was an oddly soothing scent for Nico to wake up enveloped in.

He was slightly disoriented as he looked around. He was surprised to see Will sound asleep in a chair next to the bed. His head was resting on the foot of Nico's bed. His hair was sticking up in little tufts around his head and Nico was pretty sure he was drooling. He had to hold back a smile.

Nico sat up and looked around the room. He examined his arms where the werewolf scratches used to be. There were only faint scars now. Ever so cautiously, Nico got out of bed and stretched again. He walked to the window and peered out at the cabins. The lights were off so he knew it had to be after curfew.

So what was Will doing here? He should be asleep in his cabin. Nico couldn't help but feel a little rush of excitement at the thought of Will breaking curfew to practically sleep in Nico's bed.

"Hey," Will's voice mumbled causing Nico to jump and whirl around.

"Hey," He finaly managed, "What are you doing here? How long have I been asleep?"

"Well, it's one o'clock on the second day… well night… well morning… I don't know… of your infirmary rest." Will said. His voice was slightly rough from sleep and Nico couldn't help but find it alluring.

"Jeez… Still… Why are you here? It's after curfew." Nico breathed, "Shouldn't you be in your cabin?"

Nico had to try really hard not to think about how cute Will looked when he was tired. What was he thinking? His brain was obviously riddled with exhaustion still. Will Solace was obnoxious and DEFINITELY not Nico's type.

"I-I didn't want you to wake up all al-alone," Will said as he yawned. His wavy blonde hair was definitely messed up. There was a huge cowlick on the side of his head. Nico had to suppress another smile. Will stretched in his chair and then stood up.

Nico didn't respond to Will's answer for a long time because frankly it confused him. Finally, he managed "You… Slept in a chair at my bedside so I wouldn't wake up alone?"

"Of course! If I hadn't been here when you woke up, you could've been disoriented or worried or scared… Especially after your nightmares. I know you don't want to talk about them, but I wanted to be here in case you had another one." Will said peering into Nico's eyes earnestly.

"I don't understand," Nico said blankly, his mind was reeling. Why would Will care so much?

"What don't you understand?" Will asked, furrowing his eyebrows. When he did that he kind of squinted his eyes but his blue eyes were still startlingly bright.

"Why you would do that. Surely it wasn't comfortable… Wait… Did you sleep here last night too?" Nico asked, taking a step towards Will. He looked into the other boy's face, but he was unsure what he was looking for.

"Yeah… And it wasn't comfortable but I care about you, Death Boy," Will said smiling awkwardly. He kind of tilted his head to the side when he grinned like that and ran a hand through his hair. He reminded Nico of a golden retriever. Nico felt those skeletal butterflies acting up again.

"I'm your doctor after all!" Will said quickly when the silence became too awkward. Was his face red? More importantly, was Nico's?

"Right…" Nico mumbled, staring at his bare feet. He suddenly reaiized they were withing a few inches of each other. Will really was so tall. He was quite a good deal taller than Nico. The way he was peering down at him made the skeletal butterflies in his stomach do somersaults.

Then Nico's stomach growled despite himself. He hastily turned away and walked a few steps away from Will under the premise of fixing the blanket on the bed. With his back turned Nico could think clearly because he wasn't staring into Will's overly enthusiastic, caring face.

"Oh jeez! I bet you're starving!" Will cried, looking at Nico with concern, "Get back in bed, doctor's orders, and I'll bring you some food. I have some chicken noodle soup in here somewhere!" Will hurried out of the room and Nico wondered if he felt uncomfortable by the previous moment of closeness. After a moment, Nico followed after Will instead of getting back in bed.

There was a small kitchen in the infirmary and Nico found Will pulling out a can of what looked like Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup from a cabinet. He didn't say anything as Nico walked in and sat on the counter beside the stove.

"You know, I'm not actually sick. I don't need chicken noodle soup. Also, there are probably so many preservatives in that stuff that it'll negate any positive effects the soup may have," Nico said, swinging his feet as he sat on the counter.

"You most definitely are sick, Death Boy. You were almost devoured into nothingness a few days ago!" Will said, pointing a spoon at Nico's face, "And this is a very healthy soup. Entirely organic and enriched with lots of vitamins, thank you."

"Danger like that just comes with the territory of being a Hades kid." Nico replied, ignoring the last comment about the soup.

"Well, I think that's possibly the stupidest thing you've ever said," Will replied, turning to face Nico, he seemed unusually angry about this, "You shouldn't make excuses for almost dying."

"Solace. I saved your butt by using my underworld magic. I don't understand why it makes you so angry. It isn't even your business anyway!" Nico exclaimed, "I didn't have a choice! Would you rather I let the camp get destroyed? What is your problem with my Underworld magic? And what's so wrong with me not wanting attention? I say it isn't a big deal and make excuses because it isn't! It's not like anyone would miss me if something happened anyway."

"For the love of all the Gods Nico!" Will yelled, exasperated, "Of course you saved my butt! You saved all our butts, yet you constantly put yourself in needless danger and don't take care of yourself! If you tried to keep yourself healthy then you wouldn't be practically dead, but no! You don't even care about yourself or your health! Of course I care about you! I'm a doctor and I can see and appreciate everything you do in a way that you can't! And lots of people would miss you!"

"Like who?" Nico asked fiercely, "Name one person who would miss me!"

"Jason Grace would miss you," Will snapped.

"He doesn't count. He only cares about me because he feels bad for me." Nico grumbled, "That's the only reason anyone cares about me."

"Fine. Me. Okay? I would miss you!" Will cried, waving his arms in the air in a dramatic gesture, "And you're wrong about the others. They don't like you because they feel sorry for you. They like you because they see you for who you are. But you can't accept that. What is with you and your inability to accept the fact that you might just be likable! Now for the love, shut the Hades up and you're going to eat all of this gods dammed soup when it's ready because it is late at night and I haven't slept in two days!"

Nico leapt off the table, his temper flaring.

"It isn't MY fault that you haven't slept in so long! Trust me, I know what it's like to not be able to sleep! It's easy for you to say that plenty of people like me! You don't even know what it's like to be hated. You don't know what it's like for people to flinch when you are near them. You don't see people look at you in disgust. You're everyone's golden boy! A son of Apollo. Everyone swoons over you and you are too dense to notice! You have no idea what I feel! So do not tell me everyone likes me! Don't lie to me, Solace! I'm out of here. You can actually get back to your beauty sleep, you stupid-

Will threw his spoon on the ground and yelled out in frustration then stormed right up into Nico's space. His face was about half an inch from Nico's and he had his finger pointed at Nico in a very stereotypical angry mom way.

"You know what? You don't know me! Life isn't as perfect for me as you'd think! And I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to people liking you! Lots of people want to be your friend, but you don't let them! That's why people are uncomfortable around you! Because you never let yourself be anything but distant around them! You are a complete stubborn, obstinate, stupid… stupid…. Stupid stupid face!" Will yelled, unable to come up with a better insult.

Nico couldn't help it. He started to laugh. It was just a little chuckle but it seemed to infuriate Will even more. He was kind of cute when he was angry. Will took a deep breath and stepped away from Nico, then he exploded (figuratively of course).

"Are you serious!?" Will yelled, "I've been trying to get you to laugh for so long and you choose to laugh NOW? You with your 'Oh look at me! Nobody likes me! I'm all alone! I'm so dense that I don't realize that lots of people want to be my friends but I just never let them because I can't wrap my mind around the fact that people may really like me and enjoy hanging out with me!'. For Pete's sake, di Angelo! It is late and I am exhausted and you are standing there laughing at me after being a stubborn ass for the past two days! You are sick! You are going to get back in bed and eat this freaking organic super healthy chicken noodle soup that WILL help you because I said so! Doctor's orders! And if that isn't enough to make you then do it because I'm not a night time person and I've stayed up all night for the past two nights using all the magic I can to make sure your nightmares don't come back so you can actually get some rest for once!"

Will was practically seething with his anger. It wasn't exactly intimidating though. It actually just made Nico feel bad. Nico stopped laughing and looked at him.

"You stayed up all night to keep my nightmares away?" He asked quietly.

"Yes!" Will cried. If Nico hadn't been so surprised, he would have laughed again. When Will gets angry or flustered he gesticulates everything with his hands. It was all very overdramatic and quite amusing, but Nico was still… what was the word… touched?

"But… Why? You didn't have to," Nico started but Will cut him off.

"I know I didn't have to! I wanted to! I want you to actually get some rest for once!" Will exclaimed,

"Thank you, Will. Really." Nico said, looking into Will's face. The anger seemed to drain out of him before Nico's eyes. He gave a slight nod.

"Now sit back down and let me finish fixing you some soup. Please." The last word sounded a bit like an exhausted and exasperated parent, but Nico obeyed anyway. He sat back down on the counter and didn't say anything.

He watched with mixed emotions as Will pulled out a pot and brought the soup to a boil. Will hummed as he worked. It was amazing how his anger just disappeared within a few seconds… If only Nico's could do that. Nico could have sworn it was "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles that Will was humming. Then it changed to a song Nico didn't know.

"What are you humming, Solace?" Nico asked, leaning his head against the cabinets behind him.

"Hmmm?" Will asked absentmindedly. He glanced up from the steaming pot he was stirring and looked at Nico out of the corner of his eye.

"The song you're humming. What is it?" Nico asked again as Will smiled really big. Nico had the sudden urge to reach out and touch Will's face. He restrained himself, though.

"Oh… It's a song called When the Day Met the Night… It's by Panic! at the Disco." Will said, then turned his attention back to the soup.

"I've listened to them but I haven't heard that song before," Nico mused.

"Well, no offense, but it's probably not your style so that doesn't surprise me," Will said, pouring the finished soup into a bowl.

"Excuse you?" Nico asked, "I listen to punk bands like Panic all the time."

"Emo bands, Death Boy. You listen to emo bands. And this album wouldn't be on your radar. It was a different album for the band. Very Beatles-ey." Will said, "Now eat this. And get back in bed right now."

Will ushered Nico back to bed and Nico hated to admit it, but he realized he kind of liked being cared for. Not to mention that chicken noodle soup was the best he had ever tasted. He fell asleep talking to Will Solace about bands and whether or not they were emo enough for Nico.

Nico had never really had a friend besides Bianca. That is only if sisters count as friends. It was nice, this feeling Nico had. Having someone he could talk to and maybe even laugh with was nice. It was nice to have someone who cared about him and what he thought and felt.

Maybe, just maybe, Will had meant what he said about actually wanting to be Nico's friend because he liked him and not because he felt bad for him.


	5. Chapter 5- Will

Nico slept soundly for the rest of the night and for that Will was grateful. He hadn't planned on losing his temper like that, but he was just so exhausted and Nico could make him so angry.

On the bright side, Will thought, Nico had eaten his soup and been relatively pleasant afterwards… Although Will always found Nico's presence pleasant. Even if he was a dense, annoying emo boy, Will liked hanging out with him.

They had talked about music while Nico ate his soup and finally Nico had fallen back asleep. Will busied himself tucking in Nico's blankets and checking his wounds. He also stopped by to check on all the other patients since he was up. He felt foreheads and even sang a few hymns to his father in the hopes of speeding the healing process.

Most of the demigods had been wounded with celestial bronze or imperial gold, therefore their wounds weren't as easily healed as Will would've liked. It was never certain if the wounds would heal or not. In most cases Will could sing until he was hoarse but there was nothing he could do. He could make them as comfortable as possible, but weapons made of imperial gold, celestial bronze, and now stygian iron or drakon bone were deadly. It was unlikely someone would survive a severe wound inflicted by a weapon made of that material.

Will knew that he did all he could for them, but he still felt like a failure. He should be able to more for them. He shouldn't let people die on his watch. It was his job as head healer to protect the campers… Yet so many had died…

Will left the last patients room and felt panic seize him. He genuinely considered everyone at camp his friend. So watching them lay here, hurt and helpless killed him. He couldn't help but feel angry with himself.

Will tried his best to calm his breathing but it was quickly reaching the point of hyperventilation. He knew he needed to calm himself or else he would end up having a panic attack and he definitely did not want that. Not here. Not now. He had a job to do. He needed to get over this.

It had started after the battle in Manhattan. He had been the head healer. He had put himself in hundreds of risky situations to rescue demigods. He had saved a lot of lives. Will knew that. But there were so many who he hadn't saved. Silena's face flashed in Will's mind as he stood in the hallway and suddenly Will wanted to puke.

He should have saved them. They were dead because of him and Will had to live with that every day. It wasn't fair. He should have done more. He should have prayed harder, sang more, gotten there faster. Now they were gone and there wasn't anything else he could have done.

Will hadn't told anyone about the panic attacks or the nightmares. How could he? Everyone revered his healing skills, but he was certain they were mistaken. If he let people die, how could he be great at his job? He'd hoped they'd go away with time.

Will had done his best to come to terms with his friends' death, but the guilt never left him. He wasn't sure if it should. If he stopped feeling guilty then that would mean he didn't care. If he told someone they would tell him that he was crazy. They'd say that he'd done all he could and that was all anyone could ask of him. Or, worse, they might agree with him.

If Will told someone the doubts he had. If he let his darkest thoughts about himself fall on someone else's ears they might agree with him. They may finally realize that he wasn't a great healer. They may find that the blame was his. They may decide that it was Will's fault demigods didn't survive.

He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't stop his thoughts. Typically, Will was okay. He'd learned to shut the thoughts away in the back of his mind. As long as he stayed busy he was okay. He was happy. As soon as night came, however, the thoughts rushed to the front of his head. At night there wasn't any escape. He had to face all his guilt every night.

He'd learned to control the panic attacks. In the beginning Will had to hide in the bathroom and try his best to silence his crying. He would feel panic and guilt seize him and have to hurry off so no one would see his anguish. Eventually he learned how to control it. He cried at night or while he showered. Sometimes if he was alone in the cabin. He learned to internalize the panic and show no sign of it on his face. He could sit at dinner or a campfire and laugh along with his friends while a war raged in his mind. The only indicator was the occasional dark purple flicker in the flames of the magical campfire.

Tonight was one of the bad nights. Sobs built up in Will's chest as he thought about Beckendorf and Silena... and Michael and everyone else... He went to the bathroom and turned on the sink so no one could hear him crying or punching the wall. Self hatred welled up inside him until he wished he could be anyone other than himself. He wished he could hurt himself, but he could never bring himself to do it. The most self harm he ever indulged in was biting his hand. He never drew blood. A nibble of ambrosia or nectar and no one could ever tell he'd bitten himself.

Will balled his fists and sat in the floor torn between his anger, guilt, grief, and hatred. He stared at the tiled wall and tried to breathe deeply but he was still crying. Eventually, the sobs subsided and he just cried silently for a while. Will tried to soothe himself by thinking about how the panic and anger would pass. It always did. Morning would come and he would be okay for another day.

After an hour or so, Will finally returned to Nico's bed and sat down. He'd calmed down after the anxiety passed, but he was exhausted. He gazed at Nico who seemed to be sleeping soundly. The boy's dark hair fell over his face and Will couldn't help but reach over and brush it aside.

Will began to think back to all the times he'd seen Nico around camp before. He'd always tried to be extra friendly to him. He could always sense there was something bothering him and he did his best to alleviate that pain. Nico just refused to see that anyone was attempting to befriend him. He'd said hi to Nico any time he had a chance, but that wasn't often… Now, finally, Will had found the perfect opportunity to befriend him.

Will still remembered hurrying off on that secret mission with Cecil and Lou Ellen after delivering Mellie and Gleeson Hedge's baby. He'd been so eager to forget about the horrors of childbirth (and trust him, there were horrors galore). He had been the only one who was semi prepared to help deliver a baby. Well, Will and Chiron. They both did the best they could, but Will never wanted to see that again. The miracle of life was terrifying.

He, Cecil, and Lou Ellen thought they'd done a great job in disguising themselves in all black. They were eagerly spying from the bushes when Nico appeared. Will remembered how his heart had stopped. There he was. The most powerful demigod Will had ever seen. The guy he'd been trying to befriend for so long.

He looked good, even though he was in a tattered floral Hawaiian shirt and ripped up jeans. As he walked Will sensed how exhausted he was... and something else… Something was wrong… He needed to talk to him and find out what was wrong… Also, Will just really needed to talk to him.

He wasn't going to lie, grabbing Nico's hands in an attempt to show him how they were shaking wasn't his smoothest move. However, Will was certain that it didn't matter how smooth he was if he didn't find out what was wrong with Nico. Grabbing his hand would be the easiest way to sense what was wrong. Maybe his awkwardness was endearing...

He sensed the underworld magic around Nico any time he was close, but that time Will knew that Nico had pushed himself too far. He could sense, in that brief second of contact, that one more time would kill Nico. He was entirely drained and he was barely holding off the shadows as it was… His hands were surprisingly soft. Will felt his heart do a little soumersault.

Okay, so maybe Will thought Nico was cute. Big deal. Plenty of guys were cute. Nico was a son of Hades, Will had reminded himself. He was also busy actually saving the world.

Will hadn't realized he was still holding Nico's hand until Nico had pulled away…

He continued to reminisce as he let his exhaustion overtake him. Will dozed off remembering his first real encounter with Nico. He was sitting in the chair at the foot of Nico's bed again and he just simply couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.


	6. Chapter 6- Nico

Nico slept for a while, but then the nightmares woke him up. He sat up panting and looking around. He took comfort knowing that Will was there, but when he looked over to the foot of the bed he realized that Will was not in the room. Nico looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was around 3 am. He'd been asleep for about an hour.

Nico tried to stop his heart from racing. He clung to the sheets and listened to the sounds of the night. There were crickets chirping and the sound of the ocean from a distance. Then Nico heard footsteps in the infirmary.

Certain that it was Will, Nico got up and padded across the room to the door. He peered out and saw a door close down the hall. Nico knew he should probably go to bed, but he was curious to see what Will was doing up at 3 am. He opened the door and walked down the hall and peered in the window of the room Will had just entered.

Will sat at the side of the bed of an injured demigod. He had his hands spread a few inches above their torso. Nico watched curiously as Will closed his eyes and began to sing. Nico had never really watched a healer at work.

Will sang a hymn to his father and as he did so his palms began to glow faintly over the demigod's stomach. There was something soothing about the sound of Will's voice. He wasn't a great singer by any means, but it was still very pleasant to hear. His voice was warm and steady even if it wasn't in tune. Nico stood and watched him until Will's palms stopped glowing, he finished his verse, and opened his eyes.

Will looked at the demigod and brushed their hair out of their face. He said something to them Nico couldn't hear, and began to stand up. Was he crying? Nico was taken aback. He didn't understand why Will would be crying… Will turned towards the door and Nico bolted silently down the hall and back to his room. He'd just shut the door when Will stepped out into the hall.

Nico wasn't sure why he had ran. There was no good reason for it. There wasn't anything wrong with him walking through the infirmary, but still, Nico felt the need to hide. Something told him that he shouldn't interrupt Will tonight.

He watched through the window as Will stood in the hallway for a moment. He balled his fists and titled his head back with his eyes closed. Nico knew what that meant. That gesture was one he was incredibly familiar with. Will was trying to calm down. But why? What had upset him?

Nico was about to open the door and go see what was wrong when Will walked away. He headed down the hall and into the bathroom. His fists were clenched as he walked and his shoulders were practically shaking with tension.

Nico crept back out of the room and headed to the bathroom. The water was running but Nico thought he could make out the sound of crying. He wanted desperately to comfort Will, but he didn't know how.

How could Nico comfort Will when he couldn't even comfort himself? He didn't know what was wrong. Not that he would be much comfort anyway. Then a horrible thought struck Nico. What if Will was crying because of him? What if their argument earlier had hurt him more than Nico thought… If that was the case then Nico definitely wouldn't be able to comfort Will.

Nico stood there, unsure what to do for a long time. He was torn between knocking on the door and just returning to his room. He couldn't decide what to do until he heard the water turn off. Then he crept back down the hall as quietly as he could and hid back in his room. Seriously, what was with him and sneaking around? He watched as Will emerged from the bathroom and headed towards Nico's room.

"Crap…" Nico whispered. He dove into his bed and covered himself with his blankets. He tried to make it look like he was sleeping. Nico wasn't sure how authentic his fake sleeping face was, but he hoped it would work.

He still wasn't sure why he was trying so desperately to hide the fact that he was awake. He just knew that if he was the reason Will was upset then seeing him definitely wouldn't help. He also knew he wouldn't want to be caught if he were crying.

Will opened the door and walked in. Nico opened his eyes a fraction and watched as Will stood in the doorway for a moment. In the dark Nico could only see his silhouette and the occasional glint of his blonde hair when a bit of light hit him. Nico hadn't noticed how tall Will was or how lean. He was built like a typical Californian surfer.

Will sat down in the chair at the foot of his bed and looked over at Nico. He couldn't tell that Nico had his eyes partially open or he would have said something. Nico was certain. Nico was also certain Will had been crying because he was still sniffing and occasionally wiped his eyes.

It took all of Nico's strength not to ask what was wrong. Instead he lay as still as possible. Will gazed at Nico intensely and Nico felt his face getting hot. No one had ever looked at him the way that Will looked at him now and he wasn't sure what it meant.

He almost looked loving. Nico wasn't sure what loving looked like exactly, but that was how he felt as Will gazed at him. It was similar to the way Bianca had looked at him sometimes. Hazel had given him the same look before he left with Reyna, Coach Hedge, and a giant statue of a goddess.

Nico felt his heart begin to race as Will reached out and brushed the hair off his forehead. Where his hand touched Nico's forehead his skin tingled. Will gazed at him a few more moments before he dozed off. He rested his head on his arms on the edge of Nico's bed and his breathing slowed.

Nico opened his eyes completely and looked at the sleeping form of Will Solace at the foot of his bed. He felt very confused. The last time he'd felt this way about someone it was when he'd first met Percy. Nico stared at Will for a long time just thinking. He wasn't sure what any of this meant and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but he did know one thing.

He was certain now that Will had meant what he said about wanting to be Nico's friend. Will really wanted to befriend Nico and Nico really wanted him to, too.


	7. Chapter 7- Will

Despite Will's exhaustion, he woke up with the sunrise anyway. He did his rounds in the infirmary to make sure all the patients were okay. Thankfully, things seemed to be getting better. He checked in on Nico every hour or so to make sure he was okay, but the boy hadn't even woken up or moved.

Will's mental state felt like it was back to normal. He'd locked all his anger and guilt away and hopefully it would stay away for a while. Usually after a really bad bout with it he had a few days where his panic attacks didn't plague him. Maybe he'd even sleep peacefully tonight.

When it was time for breakfast some of his fellow cabin mates finally convinced Will to get out of the infirmary. Well, convinced isn't exactly the word for it. They told him they were not going to bring him any food back from the dining pavilion. Either Will would have to leave the infirmary for an hour or so or starve.

Will decided not to be a hypocrite and got ready to go eat. He was constantly scolding people for neglecting their diets, especially Nico, so how could he neglect his own?

He walked by himself from the infirmary to the pavilion. As he walked he saw Percy and Annabeth showing the newest camper around. Her name was Delilah. She'd arrived yesterday. Apparently she was almost 18, but Will couldn't bring himself to believe that. The girl was short and tiny. She looked like she could pass as a 14-year-old… maybe. She looked like a fairy with her tiny frame and her short pixie cut. She was excitedly following Annabeth and Percy to the pavilion pointing at things and asking questions. She seemed to be transitioning really well.

As he reached the pavilion, Will smiled at all his friends as he headed to his table.

He sat with his siblings and devoured some waffles after scraping part of it into the fire for his dad. His friends all seemed quite happy, even though many were still grieving the losses of fellow campers. They all talked with Will and asked him how the infirmary was. Most Apollo kids took a shift a day, but Will was in there all the time. It was the only thing he was really good at and he loved helping people. No one knew the infirmary like he did.

As he ate Will couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He could feel eyes boring into him. He tried not to pay any attention, but he knew that Percy and Jason kept glancing his way. Even Annabeth would shoot him a sideways glance every once in a while. Piper seemed to be talking about him because she was talking to her favorite siblings and glancing at Will every once in a while.

Will caught her looking at him and she just grinned and waved. Shortly afterwards she passed by his table and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hi Will," She said with a knowing smile, "How's Nico doing?"

"He's fine. He's sleeping a lot." Will replied. He couldn't bring himself to ask if she had, in fact, been talking about him.

"Well… I'm glad to know that he's in good hands," Piper smiled again and left with her cabin to go to their usual activities.

"Ooooohhhhh Will! Looks like Jason has some competition," Will's half sister Kayla laughed, grinning at him.

"Kayla. You know that isn't true," Will said with a smile.

"Yeah I know. Leave it to Dad to create some of the cutest guys in camp who also just so happen to be the gayest," She grinned. Will rolled his eyes.

"Kayla, I'm not THAT gay," He grinned. They had an ongoing joke about his sexuality. Kayla was his go to… What was the opposite of a wingman? Basically, if a girl was flirting shamelessly with Will and wouldn't leave him alone she came to his rescue.

"Honestly, Will, yeah you are," Kayla grinned, "So how's Nico doing? It seems that you two are all the talk these days." She smiled knowingly.

"Kayla. What are you talking about? Did Piper tell you something?" Will could feel his face reddening.

"Oh come on! You talked about him nonstop while we were healing people after the battle!" She grinned.

"She has a point Will!" Someone at the end of the table yelled.

"Nico this and Nico that," Someone else agreed. Will shook his head.

"I was complaining because he is the most obstinate and annoying and-

"Cute boy you've ever seen. We know." Kayla said, patting his arm sympathetically.

"I didn't say that!" Will cried, his face felt red.

"You didn't have to," Kayla grinned.

"I only talked about him because he saved the entire camp!"

"So did Percy and Jason and Piper," Kayla said,

"But they all showed up at the infirmary!" Will complained.

"So?"

"So, Nico could have come by! He could have gotten his wounds treated. He could have at least stopped by to say hello." Will explained.

"Why does it matter if he comes by to say hello?" Kayla asked,

"It doesn't! I just… I want to be his friend!" Will exclaimed,

"Your face is red,"

"Because I'm angry!"

"Because you have a crush on Nico di Angelo," Kayla whispered and the entire table erupted into laughter and agreed.

"Do not! He is stubborn and annoying!"

"Then why do you want to be his friend?"

"Because… Because he is also the bravest person I know and he needs a friend because he can't seem to take care of himself. Nobody deserves to be alone and he is convinced he's alone. He needs someone to take care of him. Plus, he's funny and we like the same music and he is so strong. He is a great guy!" Will blurted without thinking.

"You totally like him." Kayla said.

"I do not! We are completely incompatible romantically! He is like the night and I'm like the day. He is grumpy and I'm not. He is a fighter, a warrior. He wouldn't even notice someone like me anyway!" Will cried, "Not that I care," He added.

"Mmmhmmm… Just wait until I tell Piper about this! Oh hey Jason!" Kayla said and the entire table immediately silenced itself. They may love giving Will a hard time but they would never throw him under a bus in front of anyone else.

"Can we talk?" Jason asked, looking at Will with a peculiar facial expression.

"Uh… Sure." Will said as he stood up.

He turned to give a few directions to the Apollo cabin but the hurried him off to talk with Jason. Kayla told him he had better tell her what they talked about later. Will may be the head counselor of the Apollo cabin, but his siblings were pretty self sufficient.

Will walked with Jason to the volleyball pit where Jason tossed him a ball. Will shook his head incredulously.

"Um… You stared at me for an hour just to ask me to play volleyball?" Will asked.

"No. I stopped the others from staring at you under the premise of me talking to you," Jason said, "Now serve the ball please."

Will obliged. After playing for a few minutes Will said "I still don't understand what's going on here."

"Then it isn't a problem," Jason said as he served the ball.

"That doesn't make any sense," Will grunted before diving to hit the ball before it touched the ground. He landed in the sand and sat up to see Jason looking at him oddly.

"Look, Will. If you really don't know what I'm talking about then don't worry about it. If you do, nobody is angry with you. Piper and I have our suspicions. Percy is still just as confused as he was when Nico came out to him to begin with. Annabeth understands entirely. She likes you. So do I. Percy does too, but he's clueless. I know you'd never hurt anyone intentionally. Just be careful, okay? I mean, obviously, Nico can take care of himself. He can summon freaking zombies, but the guy has been through a lot. I don't want anyone to add more to his burdens." Jason said and Will gawked at him.

"What are you talking about? Why would I hurt Nico? HOW would I hurt him?" Will asked, standing up and brushing the sand off his shorts.

Jason laughed, "Don't worry about it, Will. You're a good guy."

He said goodbye and walked away. Will assumed he was going to find Piper. What was with everyone? They were all going crazy. There was nothing going on between Nico and him.

Will was very confused. He decided to go check on Nico and pretend like none of this happened. So what if he really liked spending time with Nico? So what if he had noticed every time Nico was around since he had first seen him? Why was everyone freaking out over it? Couldn't he just hang out with a super cute guy and be friends with him?


	8. Chapter 8- Nico

Nico woke up around 10 am. He felt very well rested for the first time in a long time, but that wasn't why he'd woken up. Nico had woken up because of a loud clanging coming from somewhere in the infirmary.

He stretched and got out of bed. He'd changed into a new pair of sweat pants and another shirt that may or may not have belonged to Will as well… Okay, they definitely belonged to Will, but Nico didn't have any other clothes.

Nico walked out of his room and headed in the general direction the loud clanging had came from. It wasn't hard to find the source of the noise, especially when said source started cussing. Unsurprisingly, he found Will standing in the kitchen surrounded by a large mess.

"Fuck." Will said. He was covered in flour.

"Language." Nico called from the doorway. Will whirled around. Yep, he was definitely covered in flour. It was in his hair and he had it and some batter on his nose.

"Okay, first of all, YOU'RE calling ME out on my language? Second of all, don't judge me, okay?" Will said, his blue eyes stood out against the paleness of the flour on his face.

"I don't cuss. It's gross. Back in my day I would've been in so much trouble for saying something like that. Also, I'm definitely judging you." Nico couldn't help it, he grinned as he talked. Was it just him or did Will's eyes seemed to light up a little bit?

"What are you doing anyway?" Nico asked, curling his toes as he stretched again.

"I was trying to make you breakfast," Will said, then hastily added, "And the other patients."

"Well, you don't seem to be doing a very good job of it." Nico grinned.

"Hey, no judging is allowed. The bowl was slippery." Will laughed.

"And I take it the flour attacked you?" Nico asked, gesturing to Will's face.

"Oh… Oh yes. Indeed, it did. It was quite the fight."

"You're full of crap," Nico said, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse you. As if you could do better." Will glared at Nico, but he was suppressing a smile.

"I most definitely can do better. I'm taking that as a personal challenge. Get out of the way, Solace." Nico stated as he picked up the bowl Will had dropped and shoved past him to the counter.

It didn't take Nico long to make some pancake batter and Will handed him a frying pan and spatula.

"Don't forget the butter for the pan," Nico said as he mixed the batter.

"You mean the non-stick spray?" Will asked, holding up a can.

"What is that?" Nico asked. He'd always just used butter.

"You don't know what non-stick spray is?" Will asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Was it invented in the last fifty years?" Nico asked.

"Uh… probably?"

"Then no."

"Right… Well, it's basically butter but better for keeping things from sticking." Will explained as he sprayed the pan.

Nico didn't question him and he poured some pancake batter on the pan.

"How do you know how to do that?" Will asked as Nico flipped pancakes.

"We used to make them when I was little… My mom, sister, and I… Back when we lived in Venice and before… Before Bianca and I went to the Lotus Hotel." Nico said quietly.

"Oh…" Will said.

Nico could tell that Will was uncomfortable. He didn't want to upset Nico, which Nico appreciated. Nico didn't like talking about his past. Oddly enough, with Will it was only mildly uncomfortable to talk about. He felt like he could tell him about it if he wanted to and that was nice.

"You should definitely clean up that mess before it dries." Nico said, gesturing to the batter on the floor, "And clean yourself too. You're a mess."

"Yeah… You're right. I'll be right back!" Will said and ran off to get some cleaning supplies.

He cleaned up the spill while Nico finished fixing enough pancakes for everyone in the infirmary. Then together the two boys placed three pancakes on countless plates for the patients. They put the pancakes on lap trays and added little cups of butter and syrup to the tray along with cups of orange juice or milk.

"Wanna help?" Will asked as he picked up a tray.

"Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do," Nico said. Will raised his eyebrows.

"You mean you don't like spending time with me? I'm hurt."

"Shut up, Solace." Nico grumbled and headed towards the first room with a tray.

"Don't act like you don't love hanging out with me, Death Boy!" Will called as he headed into a different room.

Nico sat the tray on the night stand next to a sleeping demigod and headed back to the kitchen. It took about thirty minutes to get all the breakfasts served. The people who were awake thanked Nico and he wasn't sure how to respond to being treated like a normal helpful guy instead of death reincarnated.


	9. Chapter 9- Nico

"I need to get some clothes soon," Nico said. He and Will were sitting on the porch of the infirmary, "I can't keep wearing your clothes,"

 _Even if I really want to…_ Nico didn't say that. Will's clothes were comfortable. They also smelled really nice and it was soothing. But Will's clothes were definitely not his style.

"Hmmm… Yeah I guess so. Tie dye and sweat pants aren't really your style, are they? You're more of a black skinny jeans and fingerless gloves kind of guy," Will grinned.

He was trying to provoke Nico and it wasn't going to work. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure. No more hippie clothes for me."

"Hippie? I am not a hippie, Death Boy!"

"You're basically a hippie."

"And you're basically an emo goth kid."

"An emo goth kid?" Nico snorted. Will laughed.

"Yeah, that was pretty lame…You can ask Chiron. Maybe he'll let you go out and buy some clothes. Sometimes he does that!"

"Really?" Nico was surprised. He wouldn't have thought Chiron would be so cool about something like that.

"It's always short trips, but especially since the war is over, he shouldn't have a problem with it. He'll want you to go with someone though."

Nico was about to respond when a short blonde headed girl ran by. Her face was really red and she didn't make it past the cabin before she stopped and bent over to catch her breath. Nico wasn't sure where she was running to, but he assumed it wasn't the infirmary. She seemed fine besides the obviously winded part.

"Hey! You're Delilah right?" Will asked, grinning and running a hand through his hair. That was his go to 'I'm not sure what to do with my hands' thing.

"Yeah… I'm… Delilah…" She looked up and grinned, but her face was really red.

"I'm Will, this is Nico…Are you okay?" Will asked, leaning forward in his chair. Delilah's face was really really red. She looked like she might pass out.

"Fine… Just… asthmatic…" Delilah said. She stood up straight and put her hands on her head as she breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth.

"If you're asthmatic why were you running?" Will asked, his concern was evident. He was about to go into Dr. Solace mode and Nico was grateful that for once Will's piercing stare wouldn't be directed at him.

"Good question… I… was… I was going to archery… but… I… got lost…" Delilah tried to explain but she was still having a hard time breathing.

"Where is your inhaler?" Will asked, getting up and walking towards her. He was a giant in comparison to Delilah.

"Don't have one… Didn't really… Get a chance to pack before … Before I came here…" Delilah said.

Will's eyebrows were furrowed and he frowned as he stared at Delilah. Nico was relieved he wasn't the one getting fussed over. Although, Will was really kind of cute when he was doctoring people.

"Come sit down. I'll go see if we have any in the infirmary. Nico, keep an eye on her, okay?" Will said, putting a hand on Delilah's shoulder and steering her up the porch and to his chair.

"You got it," Nico said as Will disappeared inside the infirmary. Delilah put her head between her knees and took some deep breaths.

"Here, have some water." Nico said, handing Delilah a glass he'd poured to make Will happy but hadn't drank.

"Thanks," She said as she took the water.

They sat in silence for a while before Delilah looked at Nico.

"I've heard about you," She said. Immediately Nico tensed. _Great. She's going to judge me just like everyone else. She probably heard about what a freak I am._

"I'm sure you have." He said shortly.

"Are you really a son of Hades?" She asked, completely oblivious to the fact that Nico didn't want to talk about this.

"Yes,"

"You shadow traveled across the world with a giant Athena statue to save the camp?"

"Yes."

"You almost died in the process."

"Yes." Nico was getting very irritated by her questions.

"You were born in the 1930s… or was it 40s?... but anyway, you got stuck in a magic hotel until a few years ago?"

"Yes!" Nico snapped.

"You don't want me to ask you any more questions do you?" She asked quietly and Nico looked at her. She was staring at him with her eyes scrunched up a little bit.

 _What gave you that idea…_ Nico thought angrily.

"No, No I really don't want you to ask me any more questions." Nico said instead.

"Well, okay. But, just so you know, I think you're really cool. Saving camp and all. That's some real heroic stuff." Delilah smiled. She seemed to be feeling better. She sipped the water and looked at Nico over the rim of the glass.

"Thanks," Nico mumbled.

They sat in silence for a while. Delilah kept looking at Nico and then looking away. She tapped her fingers on the arms of the chair and hummed to herself. Nico shifted uneasily. He knew her methods way too well. Will did the same thing. She was trying to guilt him into letting her ask him more questions.

She smiled so sweetly at Nico and the tapping was really annoying. After a few minutes he gave up.

Nico sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"Yay! Okay! I have two more questions and I'll leave you alone, I promise! Then you can ask me anything you want, okay?" She grinned and leaned forward when she said 'anything'.

"Fine." Nico grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Great! How old are you?" She asked, then drank some more water.

"I'm 15." Nico sighed.

"Really!? I'm 18, by the way. I know everyone's talking about it. It's kind of crazy isn't it? I'm the newest person here, but I'm one of the oldest. I'm not really sure how I survived so long… I didn't even know about monsters and stuff until a couple weeks ago…" Delilah chirped.

"You're… 18… Wow." Nico managed. He had heard she was 18 but hadn't expected it to actually be true.

"Yeah, I guess. Okay. Last question. How long have you had a crush on Will?" Delilah asked. Nico nearly gave himself whiplash turning to look at her.

"What?!" He yelled. She looked surprised.

"That's his name isn't it?"

"Yes it is, but what are you talking about!? I don't.." Nico realized he was yelling and quieted down to a whisper, "I don't have a crush on him!"

"Um… Okayyyy… If you say so, but I saw the way you looked at him," She said, raising her hands in defeat and grinning.

Nico was seething. Who did she think she was to show up here and ask all these questions?

"I won't tell anyone. I promise. But most people already suspect you guys like each other. They've been talking about it everywhere I went today. I just thought I'd find out from the source, you know?"

"And I assume that's why you came by? You weren't actually lost. You were coming by to snoop around and stick your nose in someone else's business!" Nico was really angry, but Delilah didn't seem to care. She glared at him anyway.

"No. That isn't true. You don't need to get so angry, okay? I was actually late to archery, but it wasn't because I was lost. I was playing piano and lost track of time. I stopped here because I couldn't breathe and then I just thought I'd find out while I was here and try to make some friends."

"It's rude to stick your nose in other people's business in case you didn't know. Last time I checked being nosy wasn't a great way to make friends." Nico growled.

"If you don't ask questions how would anyone learn? Isn't it better that I asked you instead of gossiping? And I assume you know all about making friends then, Mr. Angry-Grumpy-Boy." Delilah snapped

Nico glared at her. He could feel the cold seeping from his skin like it did when he was angry. Lucky for Delilah, he'd learned to control his powers a long time ago.

"Okay, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I get it's hard to make friends. I don't have many either." Delilah said,

"Big surprise." Nico grumbled. She shot him a look but didn't comment on his response.

"Really. I am sorry. But you kind of make it obvious. When you look at him all lovey dovey it's pretty apparent that you've got a thing for him. He's cute, so I don't blame you. Why don't you just ask him out?"

"Delilah. This isn't any of your business." Nico snapped.

"Okay, but I think you two would be really cute together and I also think he likes you back."

"Delilah! I swear on the river styx if you say one more thing you-

"Okay okay! I get it! I'm sorry. I'm just a nervous talker… And I'm too observant."

"I DON'T LIKE HIM!" Nico yelled.

"Don't like who?" Will asked as he shut the door to the infirmary.

"Um." Nico started. His face was red. He was going to kill Delilah. He'd just met her and he wanted her dead. This demigod was a freaking psycho weirdo and that was coming from Nico. Nico wracked his brain trying to come up with an explanation as Will approached, looking at Nico curiously.

"He doesn't like Justin Bieber," Delilah said quickly, "I was telling him how I met him once. He's a total jerk. I don't like him either and apparently Nico feels very strongly about him as well." Delilah was saying this so calmly Will had no idea she was lying through her teeth. She winked at Nico.

"Oh. Yeah. I don't really care for him either. I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Sorry it took so long. I found an inhaler though!" Will said, triumphantly holding it up.

"Oh yay! That's great!" Delilah jumped up to get it and then her face paled.

"Are you alright?" Will asked, looking at her.

"Just… Just fine," Delilah said lightly, but her face was still pale and she was staring off into space.

"I'm… Just fine… and… dandy." She said faintly, then she collapsed.

Will caught her thankfully, but Nico was just staring in shock. What just happened?

"Delilah? Hey. Talk to me. Delilah." Will eased her to the ground and felt her pulse.

"What's the matter with her?" Nico asked, getting up and hurrying over to Will's side. Nico knew he'd just said he was going to kill her, but that was just a figure of speech.

"I don't know. Delilah. Hey. Wake up. Wakey wakey." Will said as he tapped her face.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." She mumbled, opening her eyes.

"Hey…" Will said, obviously relieved, "What happened?"

"Just… stood up too fast. It happens all the time." Delilah said, sitting up. Will kept a hand on her back in case she fainted again.

"That's not good, Delilah." Will said, frowning, "Have you had any water today? Have you eaten?"

"Um…" She grinned sheepishly and Nico saw irritation flash in Will's eyes.

"What is with everyone and not eating!? You have to take care of yourself, Delilah. Come on, let's go get you some food. That's probably why you faint all the time."

He helped her to her feet and led her inside while explaining how he was going to have to check her vitals and get a start on her medical record. Nico followed behind. He was thankful it wasn't him being scolded this time.

He was also very irritated with this new camper… and the rest of the camp for that matter. It was none of their business who he liked and he definitely did NOT like Will Solace anyway. So what if he was kind of cute? He was really annoying. It didn't matter if everything else about him was… Well… it didn't matter. He was obnoxious.

A/N: HI! Thanks for reading! I know I haven't really addressed my readers so far while writing this fic, but thank you so much for reading! Your reviews are literally so lovely and I hope you continue to love the story. I'm hoping to finish it before August 10th (That's when I move into my college dorm room and start band camp and stuff so I'll be super busy). After that there may be occasional additions to the story about what happened after Will and Nico get together. We shall see. Or maybe the fic will turn out to be a lot longer than I'm planning and I'll start updating weekly instead of daily after August 10th... We shall see and I'll keep you updated. Anyway, thank you for reading and for being so kind! :)


	10. Chapter 10- Nico

"I am so angry!" Will exclaimed. He'd released Delilah after thirty minutes and after she'd eaten something. He'd made her promise to eat every meal too.

"I know," Nico said.

"What is with people!? Why is it so hard to eat every meal!? Just take care of yourself! It isn't that hard!" Will exclaimed, flinging his hands in the air.

"She forgot to eat lunch, Will. It isn't a big deal." Nico sighed. He was laying on the porch deck with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling as Will paced.

"It is a big deal! She said this happens all the time! She forgets to eat all the time! You forget to eat all the time! Eating is important!"

"I know, Will. You've been saying the same thing for the past hour."

Will was silent for a moment. Nico glanced over. He was staring at Nico with a strange expression on his face.

"What?" Nico asked.

"You called me 'Will"." Will said.

"Yeah. It's your name isn't it?" Nico asked, rolling his eyes. He was still irritated with Delilah for saying he had a crush on Will.

"You've never called me Will before." Will murmured half to Nico and half to himself.

"Well, don't get used to it, Solace." Nico said, hoping he sounded indifferent.

"Right," Will said.

A few seconds later there was a strangled yelp and Will literally ran into the railing and flipped over it while screaming.

Immediately, Nico jumped up and ran after him. His hand instinctively went to his side and he mentally cursed himself. He still didn't have his sword. Dang-it. He was weaponless.

"Solace?! What is it?" Nico yelled as he ran to the railing and leapt over it. When he reached Will he was shaking and staring at the ground in horror.

Nico expected a monster. Instead, when he looked down he saw a large spider scuttling across the ground.

"A spider?" Nico asked, surprised.

"A spider." Will echoed faintly. He shivered.

"You're afraid of spiders?" Nico asked, suppressing a smile.

"Shut up, di Angelo! It isn't funny!" Will exclaimed, scooting away from the spider as it scuttled around.

"It's pretty funny, actually." Nico said, chuckling.

"Look, can you just get rid of it please?" Will asked, gesturing to the spider.

"Sure, if you want." Nico said. He looked at the spider and focused his energy. A crack appeared in the ground.

"NO!" Will yelled, shoving Nico. He stumbled and looked at Will in shock and indignation.

"What!? You asked me to get rid of it!" Nico yelled.

"I meant carry it away somewhere that isn't here! Don't kill it! And don't use your underworld magic either! You're still under my care!" Will said.

Nico was about to argue but then he realized how close they were standing. Will was literally half an inch away from him. He could feel his breath on the top of his head. Nico's heart began racing. He felt his face reddening.

"Nico?" Will asked. His eyes crinkled around the corners when he was worried. "What's wrong? I'm sorry I shoved you." Will said quietly, he put his hand on Nico's upper arm and Nico's brain went into panic mode.

"Um," He said, "Your hand is on my arm." _Nice one, Nico._ He thought to himself.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. You don't like being touched." Will said and stepped away.

Nico wasn't sure if he was grateful or not. He could think a bit better now but he kind of missed being that close to Will… What was wrong with him….

"I'll… Um… I'll get that spider." He said and went over to catch and relocate it.

"My hero." Will called after him. Nico couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He felt a chill run up his spin and the skeletal butterflies stir in his stomach.

He wasn't a hero… But he wished he was… Especially if it was what Will wanted him to be.

"I'm not a hero." Nico said after depositing the spider safely a few yards away.

"Of course you are!" Will said, grinning, thinking they were still talking about the spider.

"I'm the ghost king. I raise the dead and kill things. That's not what a hero does. Heroes save people. They're kind. They aren't angry all the time. They…" Nico realized this was getting too deep, "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

Will was looking at him in concern. He didn't seem judgmental, but Nico didn't want to talk about this. Who did Will think he was? Being so kind and understanding and soothing. He kept lulling Nico into almost talking about his problems. But he wasn't going to do it. He wasn't going to burden Will with the weight of his problems. He wasn't going to get close to Will only to have him realize what a monster Nico actually was.

"No. I won't forget you said anything! Nico, where are you going?" Will asked as Nico walked off.

"I need to be alone." Nico said. He needed to get a hold of himself. Then he felt a warm hand grab his wrist and a tingle shot up his arm.

"No you don't," Will said, "You don't NEED to be alone. You're running away because things just got too close to home. You came too close to saying something personal."

"Let me go, Solace." Nico said, gritting his teeth. He was torn between wanting to jerk away from Will's touch and staying there forever. He knew as long as he was around Will he couldn't be angry with him. Not really. Will had that affect on people.

"No. Not until you listen to me, Nico." Will said. Nico didn't say anything, but he didn't pull away either. Will took a deep breath.

"Heroes save people. You're right. But it doesn't matter what kind of powers they have. They fight for what they believe in. They fight for what they love. For who they love. You do that, Nico. You saved this entire camp! It doesn't matter if you're angry. It doesn't matter where you're from, or who your dad is, or… or who you love. Look, I know it's hard. It's really hard to accept who you are. I can't imagine how much harder it must be for you after everything you've been through, but it isn't impossible. I know it takes time. It took time for me to accept it too. But just know that it you aren't alone. You have people who'll accept you for who you are. And as for me… You don't have to confide in me, but… But I'd really like it if you did. I won't disappoint you. I'm a good listener and I won't judge you and I care about you. I want to be your friend, Nico. You just have to let me 're a hero despite everything, though. So don't ever say that you aren't because you're the bravest person I know." Will said. It came out really fast and in a big jumble. Like the words poured from him before he could think about it. He released Nico's wrist and walked back towards the infirmary.

Nico closed his eyes. He was tempted to say something to Will as he walked but he didn't know what. This was exactly what Will wanted. He wanted his words to strike a chord with Nico and then they'd have a huge heartfelt talk about feelings and stuff. Nico was not going to oblige.

Will's footsteps were on the deck now.

So what if Will saying those things had lifted a tiny bit of weight off of Nico's shoulders? He still wasn't going to cry about his past to Will. He wasn't going to ask for pity.

 _I don't think he will give you pity…_ a voice said in Nico's mind. Nico wanted to believe that… Will had never given him pity before. He'd always comforted him, and others, but never pitied them. Maybe Will meant it all. He definitely seemed genuine.

"Thank you." Nico blurted before he could stop himself. The footsteps stopped. Nico still stood still. He didn't look at Will, but he knew Will was looking at him and when he spoke Nico could hear the smile in his voice.

"You're welcome, Death Boy."


	11. Chapter 11- Will

Tonight was Nico's last night in the infirmary. Will wasn't sure how he felt about it. Okay. That was a lie. He definitely knew how he felt about it, but he wasn't sure why he felt that way. Okay… Maybe that was a lie too, but he wasn't ready to admit that yet.

Things had gotten pretty deep earlier. Will hadn't meant to get all emotional but he couldn't help it. Nico couldn't keep hating on himself. It actually hurt Will to know that Nico didn't see himself the way that Will saw him. Thankfully it had went okay. He'd figured Nico would storm off angrily and never talk to Will again.

Instead, Nico had stayed outside for about ten minutes. Will had given him space. He needed time to compose himself too. When Nico returned he pretended like nothing had happened. He teased Will for being afraid of spiders and Will laughed. They bickered and fed the patients in the infirmary.

Will had hoped that Nico would open up, but he knew that wouldn't happen. At least not right away. Maybe Nico had been angry with him for talking about personal stuff, but he hadn't shut him out. He was still here. That was a good sign. Maybe, just maybe, Will had gotten Nico to open up just a little bit. Maybe just a little bit of trust had formed between them.

Will made sure Nico ate dinner then he made his rounds to sing hymns for the patients. When he returned to Nico's room around nine o'clock he was surprised to find the other boy asleep. He'd been hoping to talk to him some more. After today Will wouldn't have a non-suspicious excuse to hang around Nico. Not that they'd get to be around each other all that much anyway. They had very different schedules.

He smiled as Nico mumbled in his sleep. Will decided to sing a hymn to his father and hopefully heal any last injuries Nico might have. The werewolf scratches had disappeared completely. As Will sang he saw any last bruises disappear too. Nico was perfectly healthy now, which was good.

"Will," Nico mumbled.

"Yeah?" Will asked, surprised that Nico was awake.

"Your voice sucks." Nico murmured. Will laughed.

"Thanks. This awful voice saved your butt though. Good news for you, after tonight you won't have to hear it anymore, Death Boy." Will said, grinning despite the twinge of sadness he felt.

"I never said I didn't like it. I just said it sucked." Nico mumbled, then he rolled over and fell back asleep.

Will sat in silence for a few minutes and looked at Nico. He was really something special. Then Will smiled. He was definitely starting to really like Nico. Not that he'd ever tell him that.

About an hour after Nico had fallen back asleep he started tossing and turning. Will watched anxiously, but Nico settled back down soon enough. After a while Will relaxed. Maybe Nico wouldn't have a nightmare tonight.

Will had left the room to go to the bathroom and get some tea when he heard a strangled scream come from Nico's room. He ran down the hall and into Nico's room where the other boy was thrashing around in his bed.

"Nico! Nico! It's okay! Shhhh. It's alright!" Will cried. He smoothed the hair out of Nico's face and talked to him until he settled back into a calmer sleep.

Will sat in the chair at the foot of Nico's bed and watched as Nico tossed and turned until finally calming down. Will had just nodded off when Nico yelled his name and sat bold upright in bed.

"Will!" Nico cried, obviously panicked. His eyes were wide and his breathing was ragged.

"I'm right here, Nico. It's okay." Will said. He felt guilty for his heart doing a little flip over Nico waking up saying his name. His friend had obviously just had a horrible nightmare. Will should not feel like smiling.

Nico fumbled his hands across the bed and finally grasped Will's arm in his shaking hands. Will took Nico's hands into his despite his heart racing.

"It's okay, Nico. Deep breaths. It was just a bad dream." Will tried to put all the soothing power he might have in his voice. He was usually pretty good at easing tension and calming people down.

"I… I'm sorry… It was just… Never mind…" Nico mumbled. His chest was still heaving.

Will was disappointed. He kind of thought Nico was going to talk to him, but then he didn't. He was grateful Nico had woken up and thought of him… But still… He must have shown the hurt on his face because Nico's eyes suddenly looked very very sad.

"I… I just can't talk about them…the nightmares… It's just… Tartartus… It isn't you…" Nico stammered.

Will took a deep breath.

"Nico, it's okay. I know it's hard for you to share things and it isn't fair for me to push you to share. Just know I'm here okay? I'll always be here. If you need to talk or if you just want someone to sit with you." Will squeezed Nico's hands gently and Nico closed his eyes for a second and took a few deep breaths.

"Thanks," He mumbled.

"It's what friends are for. Now try to get some more sleep. I'll be right here if you need me." Will said.

Nico laid back down and as he did so he pulled his hands from Will's.

"The camp would have a stroke if they saw you holding my hands." He said quietly. Will chuckled.

"Yeah, really. They're obsessed… They're apparently convinced we're madly in love or something."

"They're dumb." Nico mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Yeah…" Will said, "As if we'd ever date. That's ridiculous…"

"Totally. Completely impossible… We're just friends." Nico said friends slowly as if he was sounding it out for the first time ever.

"Friends?" Will asked. His heart did a little deflated somersault.

"Yeah. Friends." Nico said. Then after a few seconds he added, "You're a good friend, Solace."

"Goodnight Death Boy." Will said, smiling.


	12. Chapter 12- Will

The next day Nico and Will walked to breakfast together. Will was feeling really confused though. He was torn between his feelings. He just felt very confused about Nico. He didn't know what to think. They said they were friends... and Will wanted them to be friends... He loved having Nico as a friend, but another part of him wanted more.

Will couldn't help but think about the butterflies he felt every time he touched Nico. The way he thought everything Nico did was super cute. He always looked so good and it was so effortless. He was strong and brave and he fought for what he believed in. Will felt so drawn to Nico. He felt so attracted to him.

Then again, Nico was the most obnoxious and irritating person he'd ever met in his entire life. He didn't eat. He hated himself. He was hard to get to know, but Will loved a good challenge. Nico could make him so angry, but then again, Nico could make him so happy.

Will said bye to Nico when they reached the pavilion and headed over to his table. He filled his siblings in on everything that had happened within the past few days, excluding any possibly emotional stuff with Nico. They didn't need any more fodder for the Nico/Will canon.

Was it just him or did Nico look especially lonely? He casually strolled over to his table and sat down, but it felt wrong to Will. It felt forced. He ate a single pomegranate for breakfast and offered another one as a sacrifice to his dad. Will would have to scold him about that later.

"Will. Earth to Will. You're ogling at Nico again. This is the third time this morning!" Kayla whisper yelled. She waved her hand in front of his eyes until he glanced over at her.

"What? I was not. He just isn't eating." Will said, shooting one last glance at Nico.

"You were totally ogling him." Kayla said, rolling her eyes.

"I am not!"

"Okay, fine. But one day, you're going to admit that you have a thing for him." Kayla said, smiling.

"Will not."

"We'll see."

Will could've sworn that someone was staring at him, but when he glanced around he couldn't find anyone looking in his direction. Then he noticed Nico getting up from the Hades table. He glanced over at Will and raised his hand in a small wave before leaving the pavilion. It was really cute.

"That complete ass. I'm going to murder him!" Will grumbled. Kayla raised her eyebrows.

"Will, are you BLUSHING?" She asked.

"NO!"

Kayla just laughed.

"He didn't even say goodbye!" Will fumed.

"It isn't like he's your boyfriend or anything, Will. Chill out." Someone across the table yelled.

Will took a deep breath. They were right. It wasn't like Nico was his boyfriend or anything. Nico was a free agent. He waved. It was fine. But then his mind started to drift to what it would be like if Nico WAS his boyfriend.

Will would definitely have to get him to go see some musicals with him. Nico would probably hate it, but Will loved broadway. He would also have to make sure that Nico ate more. One pomegranate would NOT suffice. He wouldn't have to come up with random excuses to hold Nico's hand… Wait what?

"Will, come on! It's time to go to our activities or are you going to continue to daydream about Nico di Angelo?" Kayla asked, poking him in the ribs.

"What!? I am not… Right… activities. Okay, let's go!" Will said, getting up from his seat.


	13. Chapter 13- Nico

Nico spent his first Will free day enjoying himself. He went right back to doing things his way, but he couldn't help but think about how Will would probably react to some of his usual activities. Nico couldn't help but eat his single pomegranate breakfast very obviously in Will's line of sight. He knew it would make Will so angry he couldn't stand it, which was funny, but Nico was disappointed when Will didn't come over to scold him.

Perhaps Nico should have gone over to talk to Will, but that wasn't his style. He didn't even know how to talk to people. He'd lived his life before those three days in the infirmary without having talked to Will Solace. He should be able to continue living without talking to him just fine.

That didn't work. Nico didn't understand why he kept thinking about Will. Why he kept thinking about something he would say if Will were with him. He missed having someone to argue with. He missed having someone who didn't make him feel like an outcast.

After breakfast Nico had decided he should say something to Will, but his siblings made him uncomfortable. They were all laughing and talking happily. They chatted across the table as they ate. All of Apollo's kids had inherited his sunkissed good looks and just looking at them all made Nico's eyes hurt. He'd caught Will's eye before he'd decided whether or not to approach the table. In a moment of panic, Nico waved before hurrying out of the pavilion. Since when was he this awkward?

Oh yeah. Since always.

Nico was practicing his sword play in the arena (he'd finally gotten his sword back) when he heard chatting and laughter coming from one side of the arena. He glanced up just in time to see the Apollo cabin entering in from the side entrance. Did they have practice at this time? Nico had no idea. He guessed he'd just lost track of time.

Okay, maybe he HAD went off after breakfast to find out what the Apollo cabin's schedule was, but that was besides the point.

Nico saw Will standing with a girl, Nico thought her name was Kayla, and chatting amicably as they strolled in. Will was dragging a sword in one hand as he walked. It was odd to see him with a weapon. Nico was pretty sure Will would put someone's eye out with it.

He hadn't noticed Nico yet... Not that Nico cared. He kept practicing. He put extra effort in to his practice knowing that people were watching. _Knowing that Will was watching._ Nico thought. _Shut up, di Angelo. You're crazy._ He thought again as he stabbed a straw man in some crappy armor. He definitely needed to finish off the straw practice dummies so the Apollo cabin could get fresh ones. That was why he needed to use all his skill and defeat those straw men. Totally.

He was a whirlwind in all senses of the word. His brain was moving 90 miles a minute and so was his body. He slashed and rolled and stabbed across the arena. He tried not to pay the Apollo cabin any attention, but he definitely saw Will drop his sword when he saw him. Nico grinned just a little bit. Will may be a great healer and even if he wasn't as good as his siblings, he was a great archer, but swordplay was Nico's thing. He didn't know why he wanted to impress Will so badly, but he did.

He finished off the last straw dummy and stood with his sword at his side. He didn't look at the Apollo cabin, but he could see Kayla elbow Will in the ribs and whisper something to him while grinning out of the corner or his eye. Will's face reddened and he whispered something back emphatically while shaking his head. Kayla started laughing.

 _I need to say something to him,_ Nico thought, _Friends greet each other and talk and stuff… What do I say? I can't stand here for long. It's going to look weird. What do I say?_

Nico turned and wiped sweat from his face.

"Hey Will," He said, raising his hand in a wave.

 _This is why you don't have friends, Nico. Zeus Almighty. What was that wave? For the gods' sake._

"Hey Nico!" Will grinned and ran his hand through his hair.

"Um… You guys don't mind if I stay and practice do you?" Nico asked, looking at the rest of the cabin.

No one argued, most shot pointed glances at Will and some giggled.

"Okayyy then… Any objections, head counselor?" Nico turned back to Will.

"Um… No. No objections. We're, uh, going to need more straw dummies though." He said.

Did Will seem nervous? Nico thought he would be excited to spend some time with him… That's what friends did right? They hung out together… Or that's what Nico thought they did. He nodded at Will and went to get more straw dummies. As he passed he could've sworn that Will dropped his sword again.


	14. Chapter 14- Will

Will was freaking out. He wasn't the best at fighting. He knew that. But having Nico here to watch him mess up and make a fool of himself? No thanks. But he couldn't just tell him to get out of the arena. That would be really rude. Not to mention that as nervous as he was, Will was glad to hang out with Nico.

Will also wasn't going to lie, when the Apollo cabin walked in and he noticed Nico for the first time, he was pretty impressed. Nico was like a tornado of destruction as he attacked the straw dummies. Within a few seconds every practice dummy was demolished.

Okay…Will was very impressed.

Nico stood in the middle of the arena paying no attention to the campers who'd just entered. He looked good, Will noted. His three days in the infirmary had definitely helped him. He looked stronger than he had during their battle with Gaea. That was probably because he was. Will felt his heart kick up it's pace and a few butterflies flip in his stomach as he looked at Nico.

His sword slipped from his fingers and Will hastily grabbed it from the ground.

 _Get a grip, Solace. You have seen plenty of super hot guys before. Keep it together._ Will thought to himself, then he blinked. Did he just call Nico hot?

Suddenly he felt an elbow in his side. He jumped and looked over to see Kayla poorly suppressing a smile.

"Okay, you can't deny that you are definitely checking Nico di Angelo out right now." She said quietly.

"I am not!" Will whisper yelled.

"How long are you going to keep this up, Will? Just admit it. You've got a crush." Kayla said before bursting into laughter at Will's red face.

 _He's an idiot, a stubborn, reckless, idiot,_ Will thought, _I do not have a crush on him._

 _That doesn't negate the fact that he's super hot, thought._ Will responded… to himself… He needed to stop having these internal conversations… Will stopped thinking for a few seconds because Nico turned around and looked at him.

His dark eyes were shining from what Will could only assume was the rush that accompanied destroying straw men. He was breathing heavily and had to wipe some sweat from his face. He was still wearing Will's clothes, and even if they were a little too big, anyone could see that Nico was very lean.

 _Definitely hot._

"Hey Will," Nico said.

 _Shit. What do I say? Oh my gods. Does he know that I was staring at him? Did he see me drop my sword?_

"Hey Nico!" Will said, smiling and hoping it didn't seem awkward.

Then Nico asked if he could stay and practice with them. Will felt his face getting red. He didn't want Nico to stay and practice. Will somehow knew that if Nico saw him attempting to fight that he would never let him live it down.

Will wished he was a good swordsman, then he could impress Nico and look really cool…or something. He wasn't, though. Will was a half decent swordsman at best, but with Nico here he figured he'd be a lot worse.

Will knew it was hopeless when he dropped his sword for the second time as Nico walked past to get some straw dummies.

"Are you nervous, Will?!" Kayla asked, widening her eyes.

"Shut up! Okay. Maybe a little bit," Will whispered, pulling Kayla aside.

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"Okay a lot a bit." Will said,

"Because you like him," Kayla grinned.

"Because I don't want to make a fool of myself!" Will whisper yelled, "Kayla, take this seriously for like two seconds. Please. I'm freaking out."

"Okay, okay. No more jokes… for the next hour. Just take a deep breath. Nico is your friend because he likes you for who you are. And who you are isn't a great swordsman, but it's a half decent one. Just breathe and practice like he isn't there. He's going to be practicing too, so it'll be like he isn't even here."

"Okay. Right. Okay. It's fine. It's going to be fine." Will said, mostly to himself


	15. Chapter 15- Nico

Clarisse was supposed to be teaching the sword lessons, but she was very preoccupied at the moment with Chuck. She had postponed her teaching since the battle was over so the campers were just kind of practicing together in the arena these days. It wasn't very organized, but life after war never was.

Nico sat up the straw dummies and Will offered to help. Together it took about five minutes to get enough straw men for everyone. Will definitely seemed nervous to Nico, but he wasn't sure why. He hardly spoke to him as they got everything ready.

Nico started to wonder if the offer of friendship was only for the three days in the infirmary. Will definitely didn't seem happy to see him. He got his sword and paired up with the girl, Kayla, and headed off to practice as far from Nico as possible.

That was fine. Nico didn't care. Will could do whatever he wanted. Nico was here to practice. He fumed as he attacked his dummy. After he'd pulverized it until there was just a pile of straw on the floor, Nico sheathed his sword. He clenched his fists as he walked toward the exit. He wasn't going to stick around where he wasn't wanted.

"Nico!" Someone called, and he glanced over his shoulder. Will and Kayla were waving him over.

Nico sighed and walked towards them. He wished he could just walk away, but he can never just walk away from Will.

"You called?" He asked coldly when he reached the other two.

"Yeah! Where were you going?" Will asked, grinning and dropping his sword again. His face turned red. Nico tried his best to stay angry, but Will was just too cute… Wait what? Nico meant clumsy. Not cute. Definitely not cute.

He must've made a face because Will noticed.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, his eyes crinkling with concern. He reached out and put a hand on Nico's upper arm.

Nico felt his anger melt away despite his best attempts to retain it. He was angry at Will. Except, his anger betrayed him and drained away. Will had that stupid affect on people. He calmed people's anger and resolved tension with a mere word.

"I'm fine," Nico said, "Is that what you waved me over for, Solace?"

"Yeah," Will said, smiling sheepishly.

"Actually," Kayla said, smiling mischievously at Will, "I have to… Um… Go to the bathroom, which means Will needs a sparing buddy! Nico, you'll help him right!?"

"What!?" Will cried, his face aghast

"I mean, if he wants me to," Nico said. Will definitely didn't seem to want him to be anywhere near him at the moment.

"Great! See ya!" Kayla ran off, leaving Will and Nico alone.

"I'm going to kill her," Will mumbled, "I can't believe she did this! She knew I didn't want to-

"Sorry she forced me on you." Nico snapped coldly. Will looked shocked.

"What? No. Nico that isn't-

"Look. I get it. I'm better. You aren't obligated to hang around me. I get it if it screws up your reputation or whatever to hang around me. I'll just leave you alone." Nico exclaimed, his anger returning.

Nico turned to leave.

"Nico! Wait! That wasn't what I meant!"

"I think it was pretty obvious what you meant!" Nico snarled, turning back to Will. He was shaking with anger.

"No. Nico! Just… I'm sorry. I just…" Will took a deep breath and closing his eyes for a second, "I didn't avoid you for the past hour because I don't want to hang out with you, okay?"

"But you WERE avoiding me?" Nico asked, glaring. Will scrunched up his face in an embarrassed kind of grimace.

"Yes,"

Nico shook his head. Will was actually an idiot.

"You literally aren't making any sense." Nico wasn't good at talking to people but he was desperately trying to understand what was going on here.

It wasn't working.

"Gods. This is actually embarrassing." Will said, running a hand through his hair, and staring straight up at the sky, "I'm just going to have to spit it out. Okay. I am not the best swordsman and I really just didn't want you to see me making and idiot of myself, okay?"

Nico didn't know what to say to that. He stared at Will who stared at the ceiling.

"What?" He finally managed.

"Please don't make me say it again." Will said, still staring at the sky.

"You're embarrassed." Nico stammered, his face reddening.

"Very much so," Will said, finally looking at Nico with his hands on his face, "Ugh. Oh my gods. My face is so red," Will laugh-cried.

"It kind of makes you look like a tomato," Nico said, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

Will covered his face and made an amused sort of sound of anguish. The tips of his ears were red.

Then Nico just started dying of laughter. He didn't understand why but it was all just so funny. Will looked at him in surprise and then he started laughing too and they both just stood there laughing for a long time.


	16. Chapter 16- Will

After laughing for a solid five minutes about the awkward mess that Nico and Will called their friendship, Nico offered to spar with Will. He promised not to make too much fun of Will. Will agreed. He was still nervous and embarrassed, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from enjoying his time with Nico.

Will raised his sword and Nico grinned at him.

"Do you want me to go easy on you or no?"

Will faked confidence.

"Please. I can totally handle th-

In the span of one second Nico had knocked Will's sword from his hand. Nico raised his eyebrows at Will. Will bent and picked up his sword, hoping Nico didn't notice his face reddening again.

"We hadn't even started yet." He grumbled.

"Fine. You go first." Nico shrugged. He seemed way too pleased with himself.

"Okay. Right." Will hefted his sword and took a swing at Nico.

Nico blocked it, locked hilts with Will, and flicked Will's sword from his hand, leaving Nico's blade at Will's throat.

"Firstly, if you swing like that it's very obvious what you're trying to do. Secondly, were you actually going to try and decapitate me?" Nico asked stoically.

"I knew you'd block it," Will grinned sheepishly.

"You've gotta be subtler about what you're trying to do," Nico said as he dropped his sword from Will's throat and swung it in a circle by his side.

Nico suddenly went to hit Will with the flat of his blade and Will barely managed to jump out of the blade's reach.

"What the fu-

"Language!"

"What the heck, Nico!?" Will exclaimed.

"At least your reflexes are decent. Good to know," Nico muttered.

"Um… Okay?" Will said, picking up his sword.

"If you wound up in combat, you'd be killed, Solace." Nico said, staring into Will's eyes. It made him uncomfortable when Nico looked at him so intently. His heart rate sped up and Will could feel those pesky butterflies in his stomach again.

"I'm a healer. Not a fighter." Will answered.

"You should still be able to defend yourself," Nico said, "You need to work on your swordsmanship… Hmm.." Nico paused to think.

He stared at Will thoughtfully, then he said, "You know what? I'll teach you."

"I don't remember asking for lessons to make a fool of myself," Will said, but he was kind of touched Nico was concerned for his well being.

"It's what's best for your health," Nico said seriously.

"And mine," Nico added as an after thought, "I can't have my go to healer getting killed? Who'd force me to eat and stay hydrated if you were dead?"

Will raised his eyebrows.

"Doctor's orders." Nico stated with a deadly serious face. Will rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and don't worry about making a fool of yourself, Solace. You do that already so it's not like it'll be anything new." Nico smirked. Will's face reddened.

"You are an absolute pain in the a-

"Language!" Nico exclaimed again.

"Right. Whatever. You're the most irritating patient I've ever had, Death Boy." Will said.

"Every night at 7, besides capture the flag of course." Nico said, he twisted the skull ring on his finger. Will was pretty sure it was a nervous habit.

"Right. Okay. Only because it's doctor's orders and I don't want to die painfully in combat." Will grinned. Those butterflies were swarming up a storm in his stomach.

"Great. It's decided then," Nico said, offering Will a small smile.

It was almost time for lunch and Will saw Kayla returning to the arena. He looked at Nico and then back at Kayla.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Will said,

"Sure," Nico said, sheathing his sword.

Will started to walk away, but turned back after a few steps. He plucked up all his courage and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Death Boy!" Will called

Nico looked over at him and raised his eyebrows while maintaining a serious face.

"I hate that name."

Will pretended like he didn't hear him.

"You know; you don't have to make up excuses to hang out with me. If you wanted to see me, you could've just said so." Will grinned and Nico's face reddened. He started stammering but Will just laughed and waved before heading over to Kayla.

"Kayla, that was AWFUL!" Will cried when he met up with her.

"It wasn't THAT bad!" She cried, "It looks like you two got some serious flirting done back there. I heard you two laughing all the way outside the arena."

"We weren't flirting!" Will exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Then what was that last little bit about Nico not needing an excuse to hang out with you. If you'd just added a haiku and a wink you could've passed as Dad!"

"You heard that?... Look, I was just messing around. I knew it would get to him, you know?" Will grinned.

"You were definitely flirting with him, Will."

"Okay, so what if I was? That doesn't mean anything. You flirt with people all the time. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of flirting. Especially when it makes Nico get flustered and not be so serious." Will said.

"Mmmmhmmm… At least you admit it's flirting. That's a small step." Kayla laughed.

She mumbled something that Will could've sworn sounded like "Wait until I tell Piper".

"Whatever," Will grinned. He couldn't be mad at her when he knew that he would get to hang out with Nico again tonight… and every other night within the foreseeable future.


	17. Chapter 17- Nico

Nico didn't know what had overcome him. He had not intended to offer to teach Will how to sword fight. He didn't even know where that offer came from. He'd just gotten… Well… Nico had gotten concerned when he saw how poorly Will handled himself when it came to hand to hand combat.

Nico wanted to spend time with Will, too. So he somehow ended up offering to teach Will out of concern and out of wanting to spend time with him. He was shocked by his offer almost as much as Will was. He was even more shocked when Will agreed to the lessons. Nico had just blurted out a random time and then he somehow managed to get every day lessons with Will.

Looking back on it, Nico was still confused as to what he was thinking. It all just kind of happened. He was also very confused about Will's parting comment. Nico wasn't making an excuse to hang out with Will! He was genuinely concerned about him… So what if he ALSO wanted to hang out with him.

Nico left the arena very confused and very flustered. He walked around the camp until dinner time. Nico didn't care for many of the camp activities. He didn't really like crafting with the Hephaestus cabin. The Naiads flirting was tiresome and he hated water. Not to mention Percy was usually near the water with Annabeth.

Nico had settled his tab with Percy. Nico knew that Percy wasn't his type, but he still didn't like hanging out with the son of Poseidon too much. He found Annabeth and his constant bickering and affection irritating. Not to mention Percy was still a little flabbergasted over the whole ordeal. Honestly, how had Nico ever liked him? He was so dense.

When dinner time finally arrived, Nico walked to the pavilion alone. He didn't know what Will had been doing all afternoon, but he figured it was good for him to stay away from Will for at least part of the day. Especially after the awkward encounter they'd shared in the arena earlier in the day. Nico needed time to recover from that.

Nico sat at his table alone, but he wasn't as miserably content as he usually was. He felt lonely… A feeling he usually didn't let himself feel. He had always felt lonely after Bianca had died, but this was different.

After Bianca he hadn't had anyone else to miss. He'd became accustomed to his loneliness, but now it felt like a new wound on his heart. He'd just spend the last few weeks surrounded by people, and he hated people, but he'd almost grown fond of being surrounded by them. He enjoyed being alone, but apparently he also liked being around people now too.

 _Now that I have friends._ Nico thought as he scraped some barbecue into the brazier for his dad.

Nico hadn't realized he had obtained some friends, but reflecting upon it now, he supposed he had. He had Will, and Reyna, and even Jason. They all irritated him, but he couldn't imagine going back to before he knew them.

Nico picked at his food sullenly before someone slid onto the bench across from him. He looked up eagerly only to find it was Jason. For a second he'd thought it was Will. He was slightly disappointed, but then he cursed himself for thinking that.

"Hey!" Jason said cheerfully as he forked up some barbecue.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked.

"Sitting with my bro!" Jason said with a mouthful of food. His facial expression said "duh" as if it were obvious what he was doing.

"I am not your bro." Nico grumbled, eating a little bit of his own barbecue.

"Sure you are! You're my friend." Jason said.

Nico decided not to argue and his frown lessened into a neutral expression.

"I told you I was going to sit with you when you told me you were staying!" Jason said happily, "And I am still so happy that you decided to stay! It's awesome! I'm really glad you're here!"

"You're way too happy." Nico grumbled.

"Yeah, like you are whenever you're around Will. What's up with you two anyway?" Jason asked as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"What!? There is nothing between Will and I! Why does literally everyone think that something is going on! We're just friends." Nico exclaimed.

"I'm really glad you've found some friends," Jason said thoughtfully, "It's just… Don't get all angry and shut me out, okay? You guys just seem different, you know? Like, you and I are friends, but you and Will act differently. I dunno. Maybe I'm just crazy."

"You're definitely crazy." Nico grumbled, but he felt his face getting red. He knew that he and Will had a special friendship, but it was just that. A friendship. Nothing else.

"Okay. If you say so," Jason obliged and then changed the subject.

They talked as they ate and after some while Nico felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey!" Will said, leaving his hand on Nico's shoulder for way too long... Not that Nico was complaining.

"Hey," Nico said, glancing at Jason who had suddenly found his dinner plate very preoccupying.

"I was starting to think you were going to forget about me," Will laughed and then removed his hand from Nico's shoulder. He ran a hand through his hair and grinned awkwardly.

"Me? Forget you?" Nico scoffed, "I wish I could."

"Shut up, Death Boy. You know you love me." Will laughed, then his face turned red.

Nico stared at him. Jason knocked his plate onto the floor and climbed all the way underneath the table to get it.

"Anyway, it's almost seven and if I HAVE to have these lessons we may as well get them over with." Will said quickly.

"Right. Let's go then," Nico stood and Jason emerged out from underneath the table.

"I need to go find Piper and you have… lessons to teach. See you later Nico! And really, I am glad you decided to say, dude!" Jason grinned and hurried over to see Piper at the Aphrodite table.

"He's literally the most obnoxious person I've ever met." Nico said.

"I thought that was me! How dare he take away my title." Will cried in mock anger.

"Right. Second most annoying person I've ever met." Nico said, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you." Will said happily and he strode off towards the arena, swinging his arms way too happily for someone who was being forced to have lessons with Nico.

Nico trudged behind and smiled as he watched Will amble towards the arena. He was so tall and lanky despite his lean build that it made his walk quite amusing in a cute kind of way. Like a puppy.

Nico was starting to think that if he hadn't come up with the idea of combat lessons that Will would've made up an excuse to see him anyway. His suspicion was confirmed when Will turned his head over his shoulder and called back to Nico that he needed to come in for regular checkups that way Will could monitor how his underworld-y magic was affecting his health.

"Maybe you can even help out for once. I know you skive off your chores, Death Boy, and it seems only fair that you make up for it in the infirmary." Will said, waiting for Nico to catch up with him.

Nico suppressed a grin as he caught up with Will and kept walking.

"What was it you told me earlier today, Solace? If you wanted to hang out with me, you didn't have to make up an excuse, you could always just ask." Nico called back.

"I- that- no! That's not what that was, Death Boy!" Will stammered.

"Whatever, come on. Let's go and teach you how to not die." Nico said, pointing towards the arena.


	18. Chapter 18- Nico

Will really didn't know anything about swordplay. Nico had decided to test Will's basic knowledge on the typical, run of the mill, greek maneuvers. Will didn't know any of them, and if he did know them then he performed them so poorly it couldn't be counted as actual knowledge.

Nico set up a few straw dummies for Will to practice on, but after he realized Will knew nothing Nico just tried to get Will to disarm him. Nico went easy on him and Will still had a hard time managing it.

"I'm exhausted. Can we please be done now! There's honestly no point because I know I suck and you know I suck so let's just cut our losses and call it quits!" Will exclaimed, throwing his sword on the ground in exasperation.

Nico studied him calmly for a few seconds.

"Will, it's been like fifteen minutes. We aren't quitting. You're not quitting. It just takes practice… maybe a lot of practice in your case, but you're still teachable. Now pick up your sword and try again." Nico said.

He didn't know where his kindness had come from, but he didn't feel like making too much fun of Will when he was already so down about his swordsmanship.

Will took a deep breath and bent to pick up his sword, "You know, I'm usually the one who calms people down when they're angry."

"Well, I guess the roles have reversed for the night." Nico said, "Not that I'm very good at easing tension with a soft-spoken word or gentle touch, but you're definitely angry so I guess it's at least reversed for you."

Will looked at Nico in that funny way of his for a moment and Nico realized he'd just said Will was soft spoken and gentle.

"Let's try again, okay?" Nico said before Will could say anything.

"Right." Will said, hefting his sword into an offensive position.

"I'll go slow, just try to knock my sword out of my hand, okay?" Nico said, raising his stygian iron blade.

"Okay… I'll try." Will said.

He attempted to disarm Nico, but he only managed to knock his own blade against Nico's and get the hilts locked.

"You know, you and Percy and Jason can do some cool hilt flip judo shit right about now, but I literally have no idea what to do at this point." Will grunted, trying to force the blade out of Nico's hand.

"Okay, stop. You're going to break your wrist if you keep doing that." Nico said.

"Actually, it would be a sprain, but fair point." Will grumbled.

"Here, okay, first thing. You need to change your grip on the sword. Let me show you." Nico said as he sheathed his sword.

He walked over to Will and took the sword from his hand.

"You want to wrap your hand here that way you have more leverage," Nico said, showing Will and handing him the sword. Will gripped the hilt and Nico swallowed.

"Okay. This is going to be super awkward, but it might help. Hold your sword like this," Nico stepped behind Will and placed his right arm over his and wrapped his hand around Will's wrist. He moved Will's arm up and into a better defensive position.

"If you hold your sword here then it's in a defensive and offensive position. You can easily strike and deflect from here. When you're disarming someone who's right handed you're going to want to go in from here," Nico guided Will's arm slowly through the motions of disarming someone. His right hand moving his arm and his left pulling his shoulder back to guide Will's steps.

"If they were to strike, then you would step-

"Back! I remember that from some of my lessons." Will said, excited to know something, "Like this!"

Will stepped back to avoid the invisible attack, which was great, but Nico forgot to move with him. He was standing directly behind Will with his hand on his right forearm and when Will stepped back he closed the remaining space between the two boys that Nico had been careful to keep there.

Will's back pressed into Nico's chest and if Nico hadn't had such good balance he would've fallen. He lurched backwards, but grasped onto the only thing he could to steady himself, which just so happened to be Will. He grabbed Will's upper arms and pulled himself out of the fall only to wind up in an awkward, standing spooning position.

Nico couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. Will's familiar scent flooded his nose. The comforting smell of sunshine and the outdoors. Nico wanted to breathe it in, but that would be weird. He knew that Will could feel his heartbeat because he could feel Will's sharp intake of breath and how his body stiffened .

"Sorry." Nico managed after a few seconds. He released Will and stepped back.

"No, I'm sorry," Will said, grinning sheepishly as he turned around and running a hand through his hair, "I should've given you more warning. I know how you are with personal space and stuff. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It wasn't uncomfortable." Nico blurted before he could think through what he was saying.

Will blinked.

Nico's face reddened.

 _I did not just say that._

"I mean. It was but not because of my personal space issues. It was just an awkward position. You know?" Nico hastily explained, his heart pounding.

"Yeah. Right. Totally. I get it." Will's face was red.

"Anyway. Does the disarming thing make sense? That may have been super useless. I just thought it might be helpful to actually go through the motions and see how it feels when you're disarming someone."

"I think that makes sense." Will said quietly. His voice might have cracked, but Nico's heart was beating too quickly and blood was pounding too loudly in his ears for him to hear properly, "I think it was a super helpful way to learn. You showing me, I mean. Yeah. It definitely helped."

"Right. Cool. Then I guess I know how to teach you stuff now. That'll be helpful. It's almost time for the bonfire sing-a-long thing, so we'd better go. We can work on that more tomorrow night." Nico stammered.

"Right, okay! That sounds like a great plan." Will said, "Um, do you want to walk with me to the bonfire?"

"Sure," Nico said and the two headed off to the bonfire unaware that they were being watched by a silently-fangirling-in-midair-Jason-Grace.


	19. Chapter 19- Jason

Jason hurried to find Piper after his awkward-under-the-table-while-Nico-and-Will-flirt moment. He and Piper had suspected something was going on between the two of them and this basically confirmed it.

"He had his hand on Nico's shoulder for like a solid minute," Jason told her as they walked towards the lake.

"And he said 'You know you love me'?" Piper asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yes!"

"I hate to say it, but… There is DEFINITELY something going on between them!" Piper exclaimed.

"It's literally so cute," Jason said, "I'm so happy for Nico. They would be so good together. He needs someone like Will in his life, especially after Percy."

"Jason. You sound like a fangirl." Piper laughed.

"Well, I just really want Nico to be happy. He's gone through so much and I really think Will would be good for him, you know?" Jason explained.

"I know, Jason. I think it would be the cutest thing since Frank and Hazel." Piper grinned, "But it's really not our place to meddle."

"But you know how Nico is." Jason protested.

"And you know how Will is." Piper sighed.

"Which means," Jason furrowed his eyebrows.

"They're going to need some help." Piper nodded.

"I'm going to go see what they're up to at that swordplay lesson and then we HAVE to figure out a plan to help them get together." Jason said.

"You sound like my mom," Piper laughed, "But if you really want to try and help them then I'm sure we can do something."

Jason nodded and walked towards the arena. He flew when he got close and watched from over head as Nico and Will had their lesson.

Wow. Will really sucked at fighting, but Nico seemed really patient and was trying super hard to help him. Jason hadn't seen this side of Nico very much. It was the side that wasn't always angry. Nico even seemed to calm Will down when he threw his sword down in exasperation.

After seeing the awkward hug moment Jason almost died. They were literally the cutest thing he'd ever seen, besides Piper of course. He was hoping they'd talk about the obvious romantic/sexual tension but instead they awkwardly brushed it off and headed to the bonfire.

Jason shook his head… They really needed help realizing they liked each other. Jason was going to have to fix this. As he descended he thought he saw something move in a tree next to the arena. Jason was just about to brush it off when Percy literally fell out of the tree screaming.

"Wha-

"So WILL is Nico's type!" Percy mumbled, getting up and attempting to brush the dirt off of himself.

"Uh. Percy, bro? What are you doing?" Jason asked.

"Same as you, I guess. Figuring out what the heck is going on between Nico and Will." Percy said, grinning.

"You noticed them?" Jason asked, incredulous.

"I'm not as clueless as everyone thinks, bro." Percy said.

"Annabeth told you, didn't she?" Jason asked.

"Maybe." Percy grinned, "But I kind of suspected something was going on between them."

"Well, come on. I'm going to talk to Piper about how to get them together. They're so oblivious." Jason said, grinning.

"Dude, I know right? Did you see all the sexual tension?" Percy asked, "Even I felt it! And like you said, I'm oblivious!"

When Jason found Piper she was talking with the new girl, Delilah. They were laughing and when Delilah saw Jason her face split into a huge grin.

"So you've returned from watching the obvious show of sexual tension and romantic interest that is Nico and Will?"

"You told her about them?" Jason asked turning to Piper.

"No. She told me about them." Piper said, "Delilah noticed the mess that is Solangelo a few days ago."

"Solangelo?" Percy asked, confused.

"You told Percy!?" Piper cried, looking at Jason.

"No! He fell out of a tree after spying on them."

"Annabeth told me." Percy said, grinning, "So… what is Solangelo?"

"Their ship name," Delilah explained, "Because we want them to be in a relationSHIP. It basically means sun angel! Isn't it the best name ever?"

"That is actually pretty cool." Jason nodded.

"So, how are we going to get them together?" Piper asked.

"Can we call it 'Mission Solangelo'?" Jason asked suddenly.

"Oh, I like that name!" Delilah grinned.

"Ditto." Percy raised his hand in agreement.

"Oh okay. If you guys insist. We can call it Mission Solangelo," Piper laughed.

"Now that that's settled, we need to plan. I have some ideas, but I think we may need some help." Delilah said, nodding towards Annabeth who was approaching the group.

"Right. Then let's get started." Piper said, smiling mischievously.

"Oh how I do love meddling!" Delilah grinned mischievously, and Jason reminded himself to never let Delilah help him with his relationship.

A/N: Greekgodsrox, I couldn't resist adding in that part about Percy. I hope you liked it xD I thought it was super funny. Just so you guys know, my updates are going to get a little funny for the next few weeks. I have a lot going on like college and stuff, but I'll try to post as often as I can. Hopefully at least once a week! Maybe more. My goal will still be daily updates, but we will see how that goes. I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)


	20. Chapter 20- Will

Will's stomach was still filled with butterflies and his heart was racing from that accidental hug with Nico. He had definitely learned a lot from their lesson tonight, but he may have really played up how much Nico's physical guidance had helped him. It helped him learn but it was also nice to be so close to Nico.

He walked with Nico and bickered like usual but in his head his mind began to wander. Had Nico's heart been beating out of his chest like Will thought it was? What even WAS this friendship that they had? Gods, Will kind of wanted to kiss Nico.

Wait what? No. No he didn't. He most definitely did not want to kiss this sulky, angsty, son of Hades. They were friends. And barely that. Nico was a major annoyance, but Will still cared about him. As a friend.

"You are such a turd." Will exclaimed after Nico made a snide comment about Will's lack of musical talent.

"At least I can fight," Nico teased.

"Oh yeah? I'll fight you. I may suck at swordplay but that doesn't mean I can't still shove an arrow up your-

"Language!" Nico chided, "Someone's going to have to wash your mouth of with soap, Solace."

"Shut up, Death Boy. It's the twenty-first century. Get with the program."

"Get with some manners. Is this how you talk to all your patients?" Nico asked, his dark eyes shining in the light of the moon.

"Only you. What can I say? You bring out the worst in me." Will said, shoving Nico playfully. He wasn't sure how Nico would take it, but he was relieved when Nico shouldered him back.

"I'm flattered. It's my specialty to bring out the worst in otherwise perfect goody-two-shoes sons of Apollo."

"Goody-two-shoes?!" Will gasped in mock horror, "Why. I'll have you know that last summer I tasted alcohol. Goody-two-shoes I am not."

"And?" Nico prompted.

"I promptly vomited because it tasted like urine and swore to never drink again." Will finished, smiling at Nico.

"Oh wow. We have a real dangerous demigod over here." Nico scoffed.

"I'm a crazy guy." Will agreed, laughing.

"And I'm a child of Aphrodite." Nico rolled his eyes.

"Guys! You're going to be late for the sing-a-long!" Kayla yelled as they approached the bonfire. Her ginger hair looked blonde in the light of the flames.

"Oh no. I'd hate to miss the bonfire and sing-a-long." Nico said sarcastically.

"Hey! The sing-a-long is fun! Thank you very much." Will elbowed him. Will knew Kayla was wiggling her eyebrows at him, but he refused to look at her.

Will had to practically drag Nico to join to group of campers sitting around the fire.

"It's too bright and populated." Nico grumbled as he sat in the darkest section, avoiding the logs covered with campers.

Thankfully, the darkest section was near where Will was. Will sat with his siblings, Nico's head was near his knee. He tried to be as unnoticeable as possible, but Will always noticed him. This was honestly an improvement. Nico hardly ever came to the sing-a-longs.

Will genuinely enjoyed the s'mores and songs they sang. The bonfire was warm and he caught Nico singing along quietly to a few of the songs despite his best attempts not to let Will see. Nico didn't want him to know that he was enjoying himself, but Will could tell. Anytime he caught Nico's eye he would give him a knowing smile and Nico would punch him in the leg and look away.

Delilah seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. She sat near Jason and Piper and sang along to whatever songs she knew. Although, she seemed to be picking up on the camp tunes quite easily.

Chiron allowed some songs to be modern ones. They sang YMCA and Sweet Child of Mine. A few campers burst into Carry On My Wayward Son and that was soon followed by Bohemian Rhapsody.

Will's brother, Austin, was leading the sing-a-long. He usually would pass off the usual proverbial sing-a-long-baton to people towards the end of the night. He had a knack for choosing people who were naturally talented in music, or who really wanted to sing a certain song. Tonight he chose Delilah to take over for him.

"Go Delilah!" I grinned after the campers finished a round of "Slay, Slay, Slay the Gorgon".

"Oh no. I can't." She grinned, but everyone could tell she secretly wanted to sing a song.

"Do it!" Austin prodded, "What song do you want to sing? I heard you singing along to our songs. You're good. Choose a song and we'll join in."

Jason whispered something to Delilah and she looked between Piper and him before nodding. She glanced over at Will and Nico and then turned back to Austin.

"Okay." She said slowly, "Has anyone heard of a song called Kiss You? It's by One Direction and I know they're a yucky boy band, but it's a fun song you know?" She winked at Piper before turning back to the group and taking a shaky breath.

Where did she get an ukulele from? Will wondered. Another camper must've given her one because she strummed the first few chords and then flew into an off the wall ukulele version of the pop song.

"Oh I just wanna take you anywhere you like," Delilah started and slowly a few people joined in, including Will.

"I can't believe you know this song." Nico grumbled.

"Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me, how to turn your love on  
You can get, get anything that you want  
Baby just shout it out, shout it out  
Baby just shout it out, yeah!" Will sang with the group. In response to Nico's grumbling, he elbowed him and for a second they locked eyes and Will had that strange desire to kiss Nico again.

Then things started getting weird. It was like the mood really began to change. The bonfire turned bright orange and red and shot ten feet in the air. A few of the couples started inching closer to each other. Will watched as one pair slipped off into the woods.

Something about Delilah's song was changing the entire mood of the camp. He felt Nico scoot a little closer to him. They weren't touching but it was like Will had a radar in his brain that just went off anytime Nico got close to him.

On pure instinct and with no thought whatsoever, Will put his arm around Nico's shoulder's as he continued to sing. Nico didn't sing, but he didn't pull away from Will either.

"Oh, I just wanna show you off to all of my friends  
Making them drool down their chinny-chin-chins  
Baby, be mine tonight, mine tonight  
Baby, be mine tonight, yeah"

Will wasn't a great singer but he liked happy songs and this song was definitely happy. He sang along while Nico glared at him. Will could have sworn his face was red. But Will was pretty sure his was too considering that he had his arm around Nico. It wasn't like anyone was paying any attention. They were too busy getting cozy with one another too.

Delilah really seemed to be in her element and everyone was following along with her sing-a-long happily. She really did have a great voice and then Will noticed she had a faint golden glow around her. He elbowed Nico but he'd already noticed.

"And let me kiss you!" The camp finished the song and immediately either burst into excited chatter or fell off their logs while making out. Delilah was grinning and chatting to Jason, who had his arms wrapped around Piper, but they were both staring at the golden aura surrounding her.

"Um. Delilah." He finally managed, and pointed at the golden glow.

"What?"

"I think you've just been claimed." Piper murmured.

"What? By who?" Delilah asked, looking around at the campers.

"Everyone, I think we've just discovered our newest camper's parentage." Austin grinned.

"All hail Delilah Rennings, daughter of Apollo. God of poetry, archery, the sun, medicinal arts, and amongst other things, music." Chiron called.

Delilah's eyes widened and she looked around at the other campers. She locked eyes with Will and he grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"Welcome to Cabin 7, sis." He called across the bonfire.


	21. Chapter 21- Nico

Nico hated sing-a-longs. He'd only came because Will invited him. He didn't like being close to other people. He didn't like loud people. He didn't like singing. He definitely didn't like singing along to crappy, happy, pop, boy band garbage about kissing someone. Especially when the person leading that song was an obnoxious daughter of Apollo who used her music magic to influence the moods of everyone around her.

Yet, when Will had been singing along some of the words struck Nico. He felt a sudden desire to do exactly what Will and the rest of camp had been singing about. When Will put his arm around Nico he'd wanted to kiss him.

It was obviously just Delilah's magic.

 _But if that's true then why do I still feel this way…_ He shook his head and got rid of that thought. Obviously some of Delilah's magic was sticking around.

She was a daughter of Apollo for sure. Nico had already suspected her parentage after he'd seen her running around like a happy, flirty puppy. What other god reminded Nico of a flirtatious puppy besides Apollo? Oh yeah, no other gods did.

After Delilah being claimed, the camp continued to sing for a while. It was all so happy. They moved on to modern pop tunes and when they began singing 'Here Comes the Sun' Nico felt those uncomfortable butterflies in his stomach.

He glanced at Will. The son of the sun god didn't seem to get the irony of the song. Nico sighed and slowly attempted to sneak off to his cabin.

Except sneaking away from Will Solace never worked.

Nico made it about halfway to his cabin when he felt a warm hand grab his wrist.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Will whisper yelled.

"Anywhere but crap-pop-music-central." Nico grumbled, pulling his wrist away.

"Oh come on. The music isn't that bad. Don't tell me you don't like the Beatles, because that's what we're singing now."

"I hate-

"Don't say it." Will said, "You can't say it or I'll never talk to you again."

Nico paused and looked at Will. Will sighed. He knew he'd offered a challenge. Nico grinned a little bit and he was pretty sure it was the 'creepy' smile that Jason told him he had.

"I hate the Beatles." Nico said.

Will winced, then he sighed. He took one melodramatic look at Nico and began to cry.

Looking back, Nico felt like he probably looked like one of those shocked anime characters. The ones who jump in the air and their mouths turn to a squiggly line and their eyes are white, shocked circles. At least that's how he felt.

"Oh my gods. Are you- Are you crying?!" Nico exclaimed. He ran his hands through his hair nervously.

What was he supposed to do?

Dead people didn't cry. Well, they lamented and wailed but that was because they were dead. Will wasn't dead. And he was crying. Like actual tears. Okay, well, Nico actually didn't think Will was really crying but it was still uncomfortable.

"Please stop!" Nico exclaimed, patting Will gingerly on the shoulder.

Will continued to wail. Nico really didn't want the whole camp coming to see why Will was practically screaming

"Is it something I said!?" Nico exclaimed. Will nodded.

"I-I'm sorry I said I hate the Beatles!" Nico stammered out. He was willing to do anything to get Will to stop this nonsense.

Will continued screaming.

"Um! I don't actually hate the Beatles?" Nico asked. Will quieted a little bit.

"I- uh- please stop wailing!" Nico exclaimed. He was very uncomfortable.

Will practically fainted in melodrama and threw his arms around Nico and "sobbed" into his shoulder. Nico tentatively patted Will on the back but he felt his breath hitching in his throat. He wasn't used to hugging people. He especially wasn't used to hugging a sobbing Will Solace.

Nico would never admit it, but hugging Will was nice. He just wished he wasn't wailing.

"I love the Beatles? Is that what you want me to say?" Nico asked, confused.

Will straightened up and his face broke into a grin.

"Yep!" Will said and merrily let him go.

"What? How? I.." Nico stammered, then glared at him, "You!"

"One other thing I got from my dad is melodramatically crying whenever I want." Will said, grinning.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"You wanna bet?" Nico glared up at Will.

Will took a few steps closer until they were practically nose to nose. Nico could feel Will's breath on his face. He could smell him. He had to try really hard not to let his glare fade away and keep his breathing normal.

Obviously Delilah's magic was still affecting him.

"You don't hate me." Will grinned and stuck his tongue out at Nico.

"I could kill you."

"But you won't. I trust you." Will smiled.

Someone coughed and Nico practically jumped three feet in the air as he scrambled away from Will.

"I hate to break up the moment, but hi!" Delilah smiled from a few feet away.

"You weren't breaking up a moment!" Nico cried.

"Just me kicking Nico's butt with my melodramatic talents." Will grinned then added, "Sis!"

"I never thought I'd actually be claimed! It's crazy. My dad is Apollo the god of like twenty million different things!"

"Including ceaseless flirting. A trait many of his kids have inherited." Kayla chirped, eyeing Will pointedly, as she approached.

Delilah giggled.

"Welcome to the family. I'm Kayla." Kayla said, smiling at Delilah.

"Austin'll be pleased to have a sibling who's as obsessed with music as he is," Will said, smiling.

Nico watched them interact and couldn't help but miss Hazel. He hadn't seen her in almost a week and he missed her a lot. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a sister until recently.

"So, our cabin is basically where every sick person goes to?" Delilah asked.

"Sort of. We use the big house as an infirmary. It has more rooms. Post battle it's served as a great infirmary. The whole back side of the building is basically a mini hospital at the moment. During normal circumstances, our cabin is where anyone with an ailment goes." Will said.

"Gotcha." Delilah smiled.

"Right. Well. Since this is a family gathering and I'm not family, I'll see you guys around." Nico said, turning to go.

"Wait! Nico! No way! I've gotta tell you something awesome!" Delilah said literally bouncing her way to him. She hopped in front of him and splayed her hands next to her face in an excited gesture.

"Guess what!"

"What?" Nico asked dully.

"You have to guess."

"I'm not guessing."

"Guess!" Delilah exclaimed.

"I will literally kill you." Nico said.

"You always say that but you never do."

"You aren't still enough for me to get the earth to swallow you whole." Nico retorted.

"Whatever! Well, I noticed that you've been wearing Will's clothes and that's cute and all, but I figured you were wanting some new clothes, right?" Delilah asked, twirling in a circle and clapping her hands.

"Yes." Nico sighed.

"Well! I need clothes too! So after a lot of pleading and puppy dog eyes I convinced Chiron to let me go to the mall tomorrow! He won't let me go alone, so I need two other people, and I've chosen you and Will to accompany me! We have to be back to camp by 6 pm. We leave at 9 am. It's going to be GREAT!" Delilah exclaimed.

"How are we supposed to get to a mall?" Will asked, tapping his chin.

"Me! I'm driving! I even have an aux cable so we can hook up my ipod!" Delilah grinned.

"I am not getting in a car with you behind the wheel." Nico said, "Especially if you're controlling the music."

"Sure you are!" Delilah smiled.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are!" Delilah insisted.

"And why is that?"

"Because Will wants you to go, you need clothes, and you secretly like me!" Delilah smiled.

"Will doesn't care if I go." Nico snapped.

Delilah eyed Will pointedly.

"Nicoooo…." Will said.

"Don't do it." Nico growled, turning and pointing at Will.

"Nico." Will pouted, his eyes getting big, "Please."

"Stop it!" Nico growled. He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. The way that Will was looking at him… Nico knew that if Will kept this up then he would give in.

"Pleaaassseeee." Will pleaded.

"I hate you." Nico growled.

"Nicooo,"

"Ugh! Fine! I'll go! Now stop doing that!" Nico exclaimed, gesturing towards Will's face.

"Sweet!" Will grinned.

"Awh. You have him wrapped around your finger, Will." Kayla commented, "You guys are like the gayest and cutest couple I've ever seen!"

Nico's face was hot but the grass around his feet was withering away.

"Stop. Saying. That." Nico growled glaring at Kayla. The temperature dropped about ten degrees.

"What!?" Kayla asked, incredulous, "I'm just stating the obvious."

"It isn't obvious! Nothing is obvious! I'm not- We're not! I don't. It isn't-

The earth trembled and Kayla looked at Nico the way he was so used to having people look at him. She was afraid. He was scaring her.

"Nico…" Will started.

"I'll see you in the morning." Nico said crossly.

"Nico! Wait!" Will cried, reaching for Nico's arm.

Nico jerked away. He couldn't do this.

"Nico!" Will said, concern in his face.

"See. You. Tomorrow." Nico said, turning and stalking off before Will could respond.

He didn't like being manipulated. He really didn't like that Will had that affect on him. He really really didn't like that Will knew what kind of effect he had on Nico and had just exploited it. In front of a bunch of people. They all were making fun of him.

It may be the twenty-first century and everyone else may be okay with him being gay, but Nico was not. He still felt disgust when he thought about it too much… When he thought about how his mother would have reacted… His grandparents…

He felt more accepting than he did before, but he didn't like other people talking about it. It made him uncomfortable and everyone was always saying he had a thing for Will. Making fun It made him angry.

He knew he shouldn't be this mad, but he couldn't help it. Self hatred and anger is a hard habit to escape, Nico thought.


	22. Chapter 22- Will

Will felt bad. He didn't mean to upset Nico. He was actually very worried about him. He just thought Nico would enjoy getting to go get some clothes. He stared after Nico as he stormed away and ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh shit. I'm sorry. I didn't know he'd get so angry." Delilah said, putting a hand on Will's arm.

"I forget he's from the thirties… I guess homophobia is ingrained in his brain and I pushed it too far," Kayla mumbled.

"It… It's okay. I'm sure he'll be fine." Will said, forcing a smile. He looked at the tiny blonde girl staring up at him in concern and his ashamed best friend. He couldn't let them beat themselves up.

"Come on. Let's show you the Apollo cabin, Delilah!"

Delilah was very interested in Austin's YouTube channel and the fact that she would probably be good at archery because of her dad. She talked excitedly about learning how to fight monsters and what not. She reminded Will of himself when he'd first arrived and Michael Yew showed him around camp…

Will wished Michael was still here.

Delilah was definitely going to fit in with the other Apollo kids, Will thought.

Will's heart wasn't really in explaining everything to Delilah, so Kayla and Austin did most of the work. Will kept thinking about Nico and how ingrained his homophobia was. How angry he had been.

It made Will sad and he didn't know what to do about it. It just confirmed that Will really would never have a chance to be with Nico. Nico wasn't going to give Will a chance. Not that he found him attractive anyway…

He couldn't even save the lives of his fellow campers. Why would Nico ever even think about him that way?

When they got back to the cabin, Will left Delilah with Austin and Kayla. He could feel his anxiety building in his stomach and wanted to go calm down before trying to get some rest. He had a lot on his mind and wanted to be alone while he figured everything out. He decided to take a walk and set out along the back sides of the cabins.

Will felt really bad for upsetting Nico. He thought it would be funny… He didn't know that Nico would get so angry at him. At the others…

Will was also starting to realize that he might have been lying to himself about not liking Nico. He was really drawn to him. He really HAD been flirting a lot with Nico… and he wanted to keep flirting with him. He'd honestly had a few thoughts about kissing him… But that was probably Delilah's magic.

Anyway, it didn't matter. Nico didn't like him that way. Nico had a thing for Percy. Everyone knew that. He'd even told Percy that. Nico also had homophobia so ingrained in him from his childhood that he would never allow himself to date Will if he did for some reason find himself attracted to Will.

Will wasn't anything like Percy. There was no way he could ever convince Nico otherwise. Will knew he was going to get himself into trouble if he kept getting in deeper, but he couldn't stop himself. He really liked having Nico as a friend. Even if that was all they would ever be, he wanted to be around him.

Will kicked a rock he passed as he walked behind the cabins. He worried about how angry he, Delilah, and Kayla had made Nico. He felt guilty for having a crush on him… He didn't feel like he deserved Nico. Not after he'd let so many people die.

Silena and Beckendorf had lost their chances at love. Just like all the other demigods who had died. His own counselor had lost his life. How could Will ever let himself get distracted from his medical work with love when he knew that people who'd died on his watch wouldn't ever have a chance at it?

He felt his guilt rearing up like a monstrous horse. Will was so exhausted from having to carry this around all the time, but who could he tell? They would either tell him he was stupid for blaming himself or agree that it was his fault.

"Gods. Will get a hold on yourself." He mumbled and ran his hands through his hair. He took a steadying breath and kept walking.

Will hadn't realized how far he'd walked until he heard emo-punk-pop music blaring from the cabin he was walking behind. Suddenly, Will realized he was behind the Hades cabin. Nico was inside.

Will's heart thudded in his chest.

He should just walk away. Will knew that. He should leave Nico alone. Nico was mad. It was late. Will was about to have an anxiety attack. But, Will didn't walk away.

Instead, he peered in the back window like the complete weirdo he was, praying that Nico wasn't facing his direction.

He wasn't. Nico was sitting in the floor in Will's sweatpants and tee shirt. The lights were dimmed so it looked like candle light. Nico had somehow managed to get a hold of a stereo system… Or maybe they had just been installed with the newer cabins. Either way, Nico had his iPod hooked up to it and was blaring his angsty music as he stared intently at something in front of him.

Will recognized Fall Out Boy blaring from the speakers.

"Of course he'd listen to Fall Out Boy…" Will murmured. Will liked Fall Out Boy, but they definitely seemed like the kind of band Nico would be obsessed with.

Nico sat in the floor and worked on something hidden from view. Will wasn't sure what Nico was doing that had his full attention until Nico stretched and Will saw a pencil in his hand and a sketch book on his lap.

He was drawing! Will was surprised, but he was also distracted because as Nico stretched his midriff was exposed.

"Get a hold of yourself, Solace." He mumbled, trying to force his eyes away from Nico, "You're being a total creep right now."

Suddenly, Nico stood up and walked across the cabin. Will's heart hammered. His stomach was still churning with guilt. It was also amplified because he was creeping on Nico right now. And he was reminded of Nico's anger earlier in the night.

Will glanced at the sketchbook and pages laying on the ground and was surprised to see that Nico was a phenomenal artist. Will just wished the drawings were happier. Will couldn't see much of them, but they were dark. He could tell that much.

Will didn't notice Nico had disappeared until it was too late. Suddenly the air near Will cooled by about ten degrees and the shadows darkened and changed shape.

In a split second someone had leapt from the shadows and Will jumped. Before he could move Nico shoved Will against the cabin wall.

"Who- Wait. Will? What in the actual underworld are you doing here?" Nico hissed, his dark eyes glinting in the night.

"Uh… This really isn't what it looks like." Will stammered.

"Really? Because it looks like you're creeping around my cabin." Nico hissed, "You're going to get in so much trouble if you get caught out here by the harpies."

Will didn't respond. His stomach hurt too much. His heart hammered and he could feel Nico's cold hand at his throat. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. He was about to lose it and Nico's anger wasn't helping his anxiety.

Nico seemed to sense something was wrong. He glanced at Will, glanced at the sky, closed his eyes for about half a second as he exhaled through his nose, then whispered "Come on. Let's go inside. And hurry."

Will was prepared to follow Nico around the side of the building, but instead Nico grabbed Will's wrist.

"Woah! We are not shadow traveling! You're going to kill yourself!" Will hissed.

The two boys had a silent glaring contest. Will won.

"Oh my gods. Fine. We'll climb through the window then." Nico was clearly exasperated.

"You do realize you have a front door right?" Will whispered.

"Of course I realize I have a front door, you idiot. You do realize how bad this would look if someone caught us both walking through the front door of my cabin." Nico splayed his hands at his side.

"There isn't a rule against two people of the same sex being inside the same cabin alone," Will mumbled.

"Yeah, well I don't particularly want anymore rumors about us, do you? And do you honestly think Chiron would just let that slide?" Nico hissed.

Will was about to respond, even though he knew that Nico was right, but a few yards away something started screeching.

"Aw Hades no." Nico whined, stamping his foot. He jerked his window open and shoved Will towards it, "Go, go, go!"


	23. Chapter 23- Will(AKA super long chappie)

A/N: There's going to be a lot of angst and emotional stuff here regarding panic attacks and such, so this is a trigger warning (although it isn't very in depth in the chapter) if you're set off by that.

Will scrambled over the windowsill and fell inside the cabin. Nico followed behind him, but much more agilely. He was about to shut the window when the source of the screeching began to land in front of the window. A very large and ugly harpy was beating her wings as she descended in front of Nico's open window.

Nico literally kicked Will underneath the windowsill. Will groaned as he laid in the floor, but after another pointed kick to the ribs, Will shut up. Nico quickly leaned over Will's sore body and placed his elbows on the sill just as the harpy landed in front of him.

He peered around as if taking in the beautiful view. He looked like an angsty Juliet leaning out of her balcony but instead of Romeo, Nico had an angry harpy.

"You were out of bed!" She cried, glaring at Nico, "I will eat you!"

"I don't think anyone is out of bed," Nico commented lightly.

Will was curled up underneath the windowsill holding his breath. Nico's bare feet were directly in front of his face. You wouldn't be able to tell that he was nervous, except for the fact that his toes were scrunched up and tensed.

If Will tilted his head just a little bit, he could see up Nico's shirt… Well, Will's shirt that Nico was wearing. That was not appropriate, even though Kayla and some of his other siblings would kill him if they knew Will wasn't 'utilizing' this opportunity to check Nico out. Will determinedly kept his eyes on Nico's scrunched up toes.

"What are you doing!?" The harpy screeched, "You were out of bed!"

"Nope," Nico said smoothly, "I just opened my window for some fresh air."

"No. I'm certain. Demigods were out of bed. I smelled them. Someone else is here." She began to stick her face through the window.

Will sucked in a breath and Nico kicked him gently in the face as if to say ' _Shut up, do you want to get us caught?'._

"Ohhhh. You mean DEMIGODS? Well, I'm pretty sure there are quite a few of those around here. You may want to check… Oh I dunno… Every single cabin here?" Will could hear the smirk in Nico's voice as he leaned further out the window.

"Watch your mouth boy…" The harpy hissed.

"Honestly, why would someone be back there anyway? It's not like demigods would come creeping on me through the window." Nico said, tapping his fingers along the window sill.

Will frowned. He wasn't creeping on Nico! The harpy growled then started argue but Nico cut her off.

"I can smell them…" The harpy hissed, taking in a deep breath, "There is someone here. They smell like… Like…"

"Like sunshine and soap and the outdoors?" Nico asked, quietly, "Sorry to tell you, but that's me. You see, I haven't any clothes and my _dear friend_ Will Solace lent me some until I can get my own stuff." Nico said, stepping on Will's face when he said 'dear friend'.

"No. There is someone here." The harpy growled. Nico sighed.

"You DO realize where you are right?" Nico asked, "This is the cabin of Hades. It's late. I'm tired. Why don't you just continue your hunt somewhere else or I may just decide to start practicing summoning zombies and creating cracks that lead straight to Tartarus…"

The harpy swallowed audibly.

"Go on. Really. Continue your search somewhere that isn't my cabin. Have a _lovely_ night. Goodbye." Nico slammed the window shut and pulled the blinds.

"Oh my-

"Shhhh! She's still out there." Nico hissed. He walked over to his ipod and turned the volume up louder. He held his finger to his mouth to keep Will quiet as the beginning of The Takes Over, The Breaks Over by Fall Out Boy began to play.

Nico sat down criss cross on the floor as Will sat up and inspected his sore ribs where Nico had kicked him. They didn't look at each other as they waited. Nico didn't apologize for kicking him, and Will felt like it might have made them even from earlier. It was a small price to pay if it meant that Nico was still his friend.

Will's heart was hammering in his chest. He was in Nico di Angelo's cabin late at night when he wasn't supposed to be there.

Not to mention Nico was pissed as hell at him.

Or was he? It was hard to tell with Nico.

Will was supposed to be in bed. He was worried about some of the campers in the infirmary. He was also thinking about all the people who had died on his watch.

Will was pretty sure he was going to puke. He put his head in his hands and tried to hold back tears as Nico listened for the harpy to leave.

Finally, after the song finished, Nico turned to Will.

"What's wrong?"

"Besides the fact that I almost got us killed by a harpy and we're totally dead if we get caught, nothing. Everything's great." Will mumbled.

"Okay. Yeah. That's definitely your fault." Nico said, staring at Will intently.

He didn't seem that mad, Will noted. Maybe the bruised ribs HAD made them even.

"Are you still angry?" Will asked tentatively.

Nico sighed. He clenched his fists and stood up.

"Yes." Will's heart dropped, "And no."

Will stared at Nico in confusion.

"That doesn't make any sense." Will said, getting to his feet.

"Look, it's complicated." Nico said, gritting his teeth.

"Everyone is cool with you, if you're, you know, actually gay."

"Don't say that word." Nico hissed.

"Why!?" Will stamped his foot, losing his temper, "What is so wrong with the word, Nico!?"

"It's- it's… It's just wrong! Okay?" Nico exclaimed.

"No it isn't!" Will exclaimed, "What is so wrong with it!? What is so wrong with me!?"

Nico stood still. So did Will. He didn't mean for that to come out, but it definitely just slipped out of his mouth.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Solace." Nico stammered.

"Then there isn't anything wrong with you!" Will pointed at Nico's chest, "We're the same."

"We are not the same at all!" Nico snapped, "We are complete opposites. Where I'm from what I am is disgusting. Where you're from… When you're from… It's normal. It's okay."

"Nico, you aren't there anymore!" Will tried to explain, "You may have been born in the 30s. You may have been raised to think that it's wrong, but it isn't. You're in the twenty-first century now. Whoever told you that it wasn't okay to be you was wrong."

"It isn't that simple!" Nico exclaimed, "I can't just let go of everything I was-

"I'm not asking you to! All I'm saying is that you need to accept yourself! I know it takes time, but you have to try!"

"That's easy for you to say when you haven't anything to be ashamed of accepting!" Nico yelled "What were you doing out there lurking behind my cabin anyway?"

He was changing the subject.

"I wasn't lurking. I was just taking a walk and I ended up here! I saw you drawing when I stopped to..." Will hesitated, "When I stopped to think."

"Don't lie to me." Nico said, his mouth was set.

"It's the truth." Will cried.

"Shhhhh. Don't yell. They'll hear us." Nico shot Will a warning look.

"You were literally just yelling! And it's the truth." Will whispered.

"Okay, then why did you 'stop to think'? What were you thinking about?" Nico asked.

"What were you drawing?" Will retorted.

"I asked first." Nico said.

"You're changing the subject."

"You were staring through my window!"

"Okay… fair enough…" Will said, but still didn't answer Nico's question.

Nico sat and stared at him for a long time. Twenty-One Pilots came on and Nico bit his lip.

 _"_ _I wake up fine and dandy but then by the time I find it handy,  
To rip my heart apart and start planning my crash landing,  
I go up, up, up, up, up to the ceiling,  
Then I feel my soul start leaving, like an old man's hair receding,  
I'm pleading please, oh please on my knees repeatedly asking,  
Why it's got to be like this. Is this living free?  
I don't want to be the one, be the one who has the sun's blood on my hands,  
I'll tell the moon, take this weapon forged in darkness,  
Some see a pen, I see a harpoon._

 _I'll stay awake,  
'Cause the dark's not taking prisoners tonight."_

Will was struggling to control his breathing. Nico could tell and Will knew it, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about his anxiety. His guilt. He couldn't meet Nico's eyes and so he looked down. He wanted to tell Nico that it was okay to be gay, but he didn't know how.

What was with him and Nico and their mood swings? Seriously. Will was starting to think that the pair of them were crazy or something.

The silence was filled with the Twenty-One Pilots who always knew just the right words to sing to resurface all your deepest issues.

 _"_ _Why am I not scared in the morning?  
I don't hear those voices calling,  
I must have kicked them out, I must have kicked them out,  
I swear I heard demons yelling,  
Those crazy words they were spelling,  
They told me I was gone, they told me I was gone._

 _"_ _But I'll tell them,  
Why won't you let me go?  
Do I threaten all your plans?  
I'm insignificant.  
Please tell them you have no plans for me.  
I will set my soul on fire, what have I become?  
I'll tell them."_

"Okay fine. Whatever. You know, you're always telling me how I can trust you, but the second that you have a problem you can't even look at me? Really? I thought you trusted me more than that, Will." Nico exclaimed.

His anger was back.

Maybe the camp should invest in a psychologist, Will thought. Demigods sure did have a lot of mood swings and mental instabilities… Or maybe that was just Will and Nico… Nevertheless, Will would look into taking some psychology courses.

Nico stared at Will and finally Will glanced up.

"I'm sorry." Will mumbled. He knew that wasn't enough, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything else. Then Nico exploded.

"Don't be. It's whatever. I get it. I'm a freak. I'm weird and scary. I'm not normal, but you know, I AM trustworthy. I had enough experience with lying and backstabbing these past few years to know not to do it again. I thought you of all people would know that. You want me to confide in you, but you can't even tell me what's wrong with you! How can I trust you if you don't trust me? I told you what I could about my nightmares. I know how hard it is to talk about stuff, but you won't even tell me the slightest detail about what's wrong with you. I saw you crying in the infirmary the other night. I KNOW something is wrong and you won't even admit it!"

" _On the eve of a day that's forgotten and fake,_ _  
_ _And the trees they await and clouds anticipate,_ _  
_ _The start of a day when we put on our face,_ _  
_ _A mask that portrays that we don't need grace,_ _  
_ _On the eve of a day that is bigger than us,_ _  
_ _But we open our eyes 'cause we're told that we must,_ _  
_ _And the trees wave their arms and the clouds try to plead,_ _  
_ _Desperately yelling there's something we need,_ _  
_ _I'm not free, I asked forgiveness three times,_ _  
_ _Same amount that I denied, I three-time mvp'ed this crime,_ _  
_ _I'm afraid to tell you who I adore, won't tell you who I'm singing towards,_ _  
_ _Metaphorically I'm a whore, and that's denial number four."_

Nico glared at Will and Will felt himself crumbling under the other boy's gaze. He couldn't start crying. Not now. Not in front of Nico. But his brain didn't really listen.

The song changed. Still Twenty-One Pilots. Fake You Out. Will couldn't do this. He couldn't listen to this song.

"Damn it!" Will clenched his fist and tried to hold the tears back but they weren't stopping, "Can you turn this song off, please?!"

Nico stared at him as if he'd never seen him before. Will could tell his brain was working ninety-miles a minute. He didn't turn off the song. He stared at Will as it continued to play.

 _I want to drive away_ _  
_ _In the night, headlights call my name_ __

 _I, I'll never be, be what you see inside_ _  
_ _You say I'm not alone, but I am petrified_ _  
_ _You say that you are close, is close the closest star?_ _  
_ _You just feel twice as far, you just feel twice as far_ __

 _And I'll fall_ _  
_ _And I'll break_ _  
_ _And I'll fake_ _  
_ _All I wanna_

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" Will asked, his voice breaking. He needed to get out of here.

"I've seen that look before, Will." Nico said quietly, "This song… It's like your song, isn't it? It describes your situation so perfectly that it resonates with you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Shut up and don't lie to me." Nico snapped. He sure did have an interesting way of comforting people.

 _I'm so afraid_ _  
_ _Of what you have to say_ _  
_ _Cause I am quiet now_ _  
_ _And silence gives you space_ __

 _I'll never be, be what you see inside_ _  
_ _You say I'm not alone, but I am petrified_ _  
_ _You say that you are close, is close the closest star?_ _  
_ _You just feel twice as far, you just feel twice as far_

Nico stood and listened to the song and Will knew that he was being analyzed. And he didn't like it.

"I'm going back to my cabin," Will finally said, standing up. He started to cross the room but Nico grabbed his wrist.

"You can talk to me, Will. Trust me when I say that I of all people know what it's like to live with self-loathing." Nico said, staring intently into his Will's eyes.

Nico never looked at him this way and Will would've been thrilled if his brain wasn't replaying every single person who'd died on Will's watch. If he could just stop thinking about how angry he'd just made Nico. About how he didn't deserve to have a friend who would still try to comfort Will even when they were pissed at him.

"Whatever you feel is very different from what I feel," Will snapped, "I recall you just saying that we were complete opposites! Where did that anger go!? How can you tell me to trust you and confine in you when you don't do that with me!? Like you said, we're vastly different and you don't know anything about what I'm feeling! Why'd you change the subject from your sexuality anyway!? I don't remember this conversation being about me!"

There was that melodramatic talent he'd inherited from his dad. None of this night was making sense. It was just a bunch of angry teenage angst, but Will couldn't stop it.

"I changed the subject because I realized there was something wrong with you, Will." Nico said, glaring at Will.

"I'm fine." Will said, pulling his hand away from Nico. He wanted to stay. He wanted to talk to Nico. He wanted to hug him- to be comforted, but he couldn't. He didn't deserve Nico's friendship. He didn't deserve any of it. He DID deserve to feel this way, though. It was the least he could do to repay the people he'd let die.

"I guess we're at a stalemate then, huh?" Nico's voice was quiet, "Neither of us will talk about our problems until the other one does…"

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Nico seemed to be having an internal argument, but Will wasn't sure which side was winning.

Will turned and got to the door before Nico called after him again.

"It gets really bad at night, doesn't it?"

Will hesitated.

"That's how it is for me. I'm fine during the day. Then it just happens. I get sick. I can't stop it. The thoughts just pop up like they've been waiting for the night to come so they could attack me. I try to ride it out. I keep thinking it'll get better, but it doesn't. I pretend like I'm fine but I'm not." Nico's voice was quiet. Calm.

"I even convince myself that I deserve to feel the way I do. I'm certain that I don't deserve happiness after everything I've done. I tell myself no one will understand and bottle everything up. I let myself be angry and miserable. I keep my distance from everyone because I'm so afraid of being rejected. I convince myself that no one likes me, even when people reach out to me. I'm sure that no one wants to be my friend even when I have people right in front of me trying their best to get to know me. And then as I sit here, alone and miserable, I tell myself that it's other people's fault. That if someone would just talk to me. If someone would just try, then I would open up… But it's not their fault. Shit happened in my past. I've been rejected a lot. I've been hated. Feared even. But is staying here with my misery really better than putting myself out there and trying again? Is it really better to bottle it up because you're afraid of what other people might say when they see how broken you are?"

Will didn't respond but he stood facing the door, much like Nico had just a few days ago.

"To be entirely fair, you do a better job of hiding it than I do," Nico said.

"A better job at what?" Will asked, closing his eyes as he fought back tears.

"Hiding the fact that you're literally being eaten alive by your own thoughts and self-hatred and guilt." Nico said, "You keep it internalized more than I can. I lash out."

"Well… I don't have nearly as much shit in my past as you do," Will said, turning around, "And you do deserve to be happy, Nico. You don't deserve to be miserable."

"Maybe I'll take your advice if you take it too." Nico said, smirking at Will.

Will tried valiantly to keep it together in front of Nico but he couldn't stop the thoughts about Silena and Beckendorf and everyone else. He was also overwhelmed by Nico's brief opening up to him. Tears began to roll down his cheeks and Will put his face in his hands as he attempted to hold back his sobs.

Will hadn't even heard him cross the room, but he felt Nico's hand on his shoulder.

He didn't say anything. He didn't try to tell Will that it was fine. He just let Will cry as he led him to a bunk and sat down beside him.

"I'll show you my scars if you show me yours," Nico finally murmured, "Metaphoric scars, of course."

"It's just- It's just anx-anxiety attacks." Will sobbed. He was completely losing it. He wrapped his arms around himself as he sobbed.

"Will. 'Just' isn't a word you put in front of anxiety attacks," Nico said, "Trust me. I've had my fair share of them."

"I just… I can't deal with- with the guilt!" Will sobbed. He didn't want Nico to hear about all the horrible stuff that went through his mind, but he couldn't really hold it in no matter how much he tried.

"Will. I know more about guilt than you'd think, you know. I was born at a time when Hitler was literally preparing to murder homosexuals and an entire race of people. I was told that they were disgusting by my own family. They never realized… They didn't know that everything they said… They were condemning me without even knowing it." Nico said quietly.

"I can't tell you. I can't have you hate me." Will whispered, "Please stop asking."

"Will. Are you a complete idiot? I'm not going to hate you. I swear it on the River Styx. You didn't hate me after I let Octavian kill himself. You can tell me what's wrong. Trust me when I say I know all about anxiety, self loathing, depression, anxiety, grief, guilt, you name it. But I won't push you. I know how hard it is to talk about this kind of stuff." Nico said.

"You're finally opening up to me." Will managed a watery grin.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's nice to get it all out there. You should try it sometime." Nico said, reaching over and squeezing Will's hand gently.

Then Will just fell apart.

A/N: Sorry this was so angsty when you guys thought we were going to get to the fun flirty car ride (I promise we'll be there in a few chapters). FYI: The songs mentioned in this song aren't mine. They belong to Fall Out Boy and Twenty-One Pilots and their record labels. There will probably be a lot of song lyrics and what not in the next few chapters. I will try to reference them at the bottom of the chapter or within the chapter itself. FYI I may be giving songs to characters for them to have "written" if this is the case and does happen then I'll give credit to the real artist down here in a neat little author's note.

Cool. Thank you guys for reading! Just so you know, I have over 40,000 words in my Mission Solangelo word document so this story isn't even close to over yet. Hold on to your hats and prepare for a nice long novel length Solangelo fic (if you're into that kind of fic). It should also be mentioned that since the fic is so long there may be inconsistencies or plot holes that I've forgotten about from the earlier chapters. If this is the case, just message me your questions or put them in a review and I'll try to patch them up for you all.

If you read this entire note then you're awesome and I love you. Thanks for reading :)


	24. Chapter 24- WillNico

-Will-

Will was ashamed to say that he was blubbering like a baby. He started crying and he just couldn't stop. It wasn't just any crying, either. It was ugly crying. The kind with snot and hiccups and wailing. Nico didn't seem fazed, though. He truly appeared to be a seasoned anxiety veteran.

Or maybe he just felt so bad for Will that he internalized his disgust.

Either way, Will was grateful.

Nico sat crisscross with his arm around Will's shoulders as Will told him everything. Nico rubbed his back gently as Will told him about how he blamed himself for the deaths of all those campers. He told Nico about how he hated himself for it. How he was certain if people heard what Will thought then they'd agree. He told Nico about how his anxiety had been getting worse and worse and he had to leave the cabin so no one would see him going crazy.

Nico was a good listener. He listened to Will the whole time and didn't push him. Whenever Will got too overwhelmed Nico would rub his back and tell him it was okay and to take deep breaths.

Finally, after about an hour Will sat with his face buried in his knees as Nico held his hand calmly rubbing circles on Will's palm with his thumb.

Will's tears began to subside and his breathing became normal again.

Finally, Nico took a deep breath and began to talk quietly.

"Will. I want you to listen to me, okay? I know it's hard because I've been here on countless occasions, but their deaths aren't your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself. No one else does. You literally did everything you could to save them. Some deaths can't and shouldn't be stopped. That's what my dad told me once… I still have a hard time believing it but I'm starting to realize it's true. They died. It isn't fair. It isn't right. That's not your fault, though. You're the best healer I know and you shouldn't blame yourself. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be loved. That doesn't make it easy, but that's what you have to tell yourself…You…" Nico hesitated, "You can't let the guilt ruin your life. It'll be a part of you for a long time, but you can work through it. And, just so you know, I'm always going to be here to listen to you if you need to talk and I don't hate you."

Will didn't say anything for a long time. He just sat with his face in his knees. Then he did something he'd wanted to do for a long time. He hugged Nico. He held him to him as if it would save his life.

Nico stiffened awkwardly for a few seconds and then wrapped his arms hesitantly around Will. Will buried his face in Nico's chest. They sat like that for a long time. Will could smell the cool scent of underground and soap that accompanied Nico. It was nice. Comforting.

"Thank you, Death Boy." Will mumbled, "And you should take your own advice. You don't have to hate yourself. You don't have to stay closed off from everyone. If you just gave us a chance I promise you'd see just how accepting everyone here is."

He expected Nico to let him go, but he didn't. Nico seemed to be content to hug Will as long as Will needed to be hugged… Maybe, just maybe, Nico needed this hug as much as Will did.

"Oh the rumors this would start." Will finally said into Nico's shoulder.

"Shut up. It's just a friendly hug." Nico said, pulling away and smiling genuinely at Will.

"I know." Will smiled, _but it could be more…_ he thought then shook that thought from his mind.

"I- okay, don't take this the wrong way- I don't think that you should leave tonight," Nico said, Will's heart hammered in his chest. Then Nico continued, "The harpy will still be on the prowl, you know?"

"Yeah. Yeah… Totally. You're right. I guess I'm stuck here in vampire central." Will said, slightly disappointed.

"Vampire central?! Okay… Yeah it does look pretty awful." Nico agreed.

Nico stood and stretched.

"We should probably try to get some rest before tomorrow. Delilah will keep us busy."

"Doesn't she always? She's crazy." Will said, "But don't change the subject. You still owe me an explanation that you promised. It's your turn to spill your guts and be comforted."

"I was kind of hoping what I said earlier would count" Nico said, wincing.

"Nope. Now come on. I've been waiting for a heart to heart for a long time and now that it's here I am not letting it go that easily." Will said, poking Nico gently in the chest.

-Nico-

Nico didn't want to talk about this, but Will insisted, and Nico had promised… and okay, maybe it felt good to get everything off his chest. He sat on the floor and Will laid in a bunk across from him, listening as Nico explained what he'd learned of his early childhood.

Nico recounted all the things he'd been told to believe about homosexuals. He described desperately trying to force himself to find girls attractive. He told Will about how he'd known from a young age that it wasn't working. So he pushed it down as far as he could and pretended like his feelings didn't exist.

Bianca was the only person who'd ever accepted him. He never told her, but she somehow just knew. She would always tell him that people were just closed minded and that the stuff they said wasn't true. Nico tried to believe her, but their words still hurt.

Will sympathized with Nico.

"It must be so hard," He mumbled, "To feel so different from everyone else."

"Thanks."

"You know, you're not." Will said.

"What?"

"You're not that different from everyone else. The only reason you feel excluded now is because you exclude yourself. It's okay to be gay, Nico. It's okay to be a child of Hades. It's all okay. It's not your fault and there's nothing wrong with it." Will said.

"You don't get it. No matter where I go. I'm always the odd one out. I'm a son of Hades. I can literally summon the dead. That scares people. I'm a freak… And I just put myself at even more of a disadvantage because… because… because I'm… you know."

"Because you're gay." Will said.

"Don't say that."

"Because you like boys?"

"That's even worse."

"You think girls are icky?"

"Not true."

"Your taste in lovers is inclined towards the masculine?"

"Please stop." Nico sighed.

"Nico, you need to say it." Will said, his expression becoming serious.

"No. I can't."

Will got up and walked over to the dresser. He grabbed a mirror and then walked to where Nico was sitting. Will was never this stone-faced.

"Look in the mirror and say it," Will said firmly. His blonde curls looked golden. His eyes reminded Nico of the sky.

"Why? What's the point?" Nico grumbled, but his insides churned at the mere thought of saying it… He'd never actually said it. He'd came out to a few people, but he'd never said it. He couldn't.

"Because you need to see yourself for who you really are. You need to say it because when you say it that means it's real and it's the first step to acceptance. I was blessed to be born in a time when it was okay. I have had a really easy time coming to terms with my sexuality, but you haven't. And you need to accept that. You need to face it. You can't live in fear of yourself forever." Will said. He had that camp counselor attitude about him again.

He thrust the mirror towards Nico, who accepted it with shaking hands.

"Cupid once told me something scarily similar." Nico said, his heart hammering. He wondered if this entire conversation was somehow Cupid's fault… But then again, most love stories were because of Cupid and Aphrodite…

Wait. This was NOT a love story. What was Nico thinking?

"Go on." Will said gently, "I'm right here. It'll be okay."

Nico lifted the mirror towards his face and felt like he was going to puke. He swore he could hear Cupid's laughter in his ears. He could feel the old wound from Cupid's arrow burning.

"I can't…" Nico said, looking at his reflection.

His eyes were dark and his skin was as pale as a ghosts. His hair was unruly as ever. He was literally the opposite of the good-natured, sun-kissed, blonde-haired son of Apollo.

"Yes you can. You're the strongest person I know." Will said, putting his hand on Nico's shoulder.

Nico swallowed.

Will made being gay look so easy. So simple. Just say you like guys and go kiss some. That seemed to be his motto. Not to say that Will was promiscuous. Nico had never even heard of him dating anyone. Will was just that accepting. He was a 'you do you, dude' kind of guy. As if it was easy to just be yourself.

Nico looked in the mirror.

He looked at Will who smiled encouragingly and Nico felt a pang in his heart… Almost… Almost like a wound from an arrow.

No. He was just psyching himself out.

Nico glanced at the mirror and back at Will again. Will was giving him the most caring and supportive smile.

Suddenly, Nico remembered something Cupid had said. It felt like ages ago, but it rang through his ears as if Cupid were sitting right beside him. Nico shuddered at the thought.

"Love is no game! It is hard work- a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you- especially the truth."

He didn't know why he was thinking about this now, but staring up at Will's golden face he started to think that he deserved the truth. He thought that maybe, just maybe, that quest might be worth it… even if it cost him everything. He thought that the truth was a vital first step… He wasn't sure towards what, but he was quite certain that it was a necessary step nonetheless.

He looked back at the mirror and took a breath.

"I… I…" Nico choked on the words. He fumed and punched the wall with his fist, "Why is this so HARD!?"

"Try again. It's okay." Will said reassuringly.

"I'm… I'm…" Nico felt tears prickling his eyes. The temperature in the room was dropping. He literally felt like he was being torn in half.

"Go on." Will urged.

It was for Will. He was the one who wanted Nico to admit it. It was because of Will. Nico couldn't have done it alone. He could never accept himself before. He couldn't even think about it for long without getting sick. But with Will staring at him compassionately and knowing that this boy- the kindest, gentlest, most caring person Nico had ever met- accepted him gave Nico the courage he needed.

"I'm gay." Nico whispered.

For a second the words rang in the air despite how quietly Nico had said them. Will was smiling at Nico. And for a moment Nico felt a weight lift off his shoulders. For one glorious moment everything was quiet and it was just Nico and Will and that confession that Nico could never quite bring himself to say aloud until now.

Then he swore he heard Cupid's laughter.

Nico smashed the mirror against the cabin wall and screamed.

He felt all his self hatred and all the horrible things his family had said. He felt the rejection he'd felt for the past years all at once. He felt it all and it was eating him alive. He tore at his hair and yelled.

"I wouldn't say love always makes you happy. Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad… But at least you've faced it now." Cupid's voice rang through Nico's mind.

He lost control. All the mirrors in the cabin shattered. The bedframes shook. Cracks formed in the floor. The ground around Nico steamed. He screamed and punched the wall. Why couldn't Cupid just leave him ALONE? What was it with him?

He didn't know how long he had lost control for, but eventually he felt Will's hands on his shoulders.

"Nico, that's enough." Will said firmly.

Nico couldn't look at him. Nico hadn't even realized he'd curled up in the fetal position.

"I didn't think admitting it would hurt so much." Nico seethed.

"Sometimes the truth hurts, but only after you admit it and let the truth come to the surface can the wound begin to heal. There are a lot of wounds you've been repressing. It's going to hurt for a while, but that's okay."

"You sound like Cupid." Nico whispered.

"Are you flirting with me?" Will grinned. Nico laughed roughly, then started to cry.

"Nico. It's okay. Shhh. It's okay." Will said gently, prying Nico's hands from his face.

Nico cried. He refused to look at the son of Apollo.

"Nico, I know it hurts, but it also feels a little bit liberating doesn't it? Now that it's out there. Is it really worse than bottling it up and pretending like it doesn't exist?" Will asked.

He sounded like he could use some reassurance that he did the right thing in forcing Nico to admit who he really was.

"You know…" Nico croaked, his voice raw, "Cupid told me that love can be the cause of the greatest pain. He told me that love didn't always make people happy. Sometimes it hurts them more than they had ever hurt before…"

"Nico, I'm sorry." Will said, "I shouldn't have made you do that… I just thought it would help…"

Nico sat up. He didn't say anything for a while, but he looked at Will. His eyes were red from crying earlier in the night. He was staring at Nico with concern and caring. He wasn't looking at him with fear despite Nico losing control. He wasn't looking at him with disgust or disappointment.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Nico whispered.

"No. Why?" Will asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Even after I lost control like that?"

"Nico, that could've been so much worse. It was just a minor earthquake," Will said with a wry smile, "I told you. I trust you. You can control your powers and you aren't going to let yourself hurt anyone."

Nico stared at Will for a few seconds. He took in everything that had just happened and then, with a shock, he realized that he did feel slightly lighter. He felt better. He wasn't great. But he was a whole lot closer to accepting himself than he ever had been before.

"Thank you, Will." Nico said, putting a hand on top of his.

Nico didn't tell Will that he felt better. That he felt lighter somehow, but Will seemed to understand. He positively beamed at Nico and Nico thought he could sit and stare at the joy in that smile for days and never grow bored.

After a few moments of contented staring, Will got this sort of funny look in his eyes. He looked away, toward the window and murmured "And in the end, we were all just humans, drunk on the ideas that love, and only love, could heal our brokenness… "

Nico felt his face reddening.

"Um… What was that?"

"A quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald… at least I think it was him who said it…" Will said, staring out the window.

"Any particular reason for blurting poetry in my cabin?" Nico asked, rubbing his foot on the cabin floor.

"It just popped in my head… I dunno. When I get tired I start spouting poetry."

"Oh really? YOU read poetry?" Nico scoffed, but his heart felt tied in a thousand knots.

"Yes really," Will said, crossing his arms, "My father is the GOD of poetry. Of course I read poetry."

Nico laughed. Will glared at him, took a deep breath and then looked directly into Nico's eyes as he began to recite Shakespeare.

" _Those lips that Love's own hand did make_ ," Will started. Nico's face felt burning hot.

" _Breathed forth the sound that said, 'I hate'_

 _To me that languished for her sake._

 _But when she saw my woeful state,_

 _Straight in her heart did mercy come,_ "

Nico's heart hammered in his chest. He wanted to look away from Will, but he couldn't. The boy had grown a hundred more times attractive, which Nico didn't think was possible, in about five seconds. His hair was a bit unkempt from his anxiety attack and his eyes were still a little red, but when he spoke it was like magic. Well, considering who his father was, it probably WAS magic. At least that's how Nico was going to explain the tingling that ran down his spine as Will continued to recite a Shakespearean sonnet.

 _"_ _Chiding that tongue that ever sweet_

 _Was used in giving gentle doom,_

 _And taught it thus anew to greet:_

 _'_ _I hate,' she altered with an end_

 _That followed it as gentle day_

 _Doth follow night, who, like a fient,_

 _From heaven to hell is flown away._

 _'_ _I hate' from hate away she threw,_

 _And saved my life, saying 'not you.'_ "

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Nico finally composed his brain enough to form words.

"Nerd." He managed. Will looked affronted. Then he grinned.

"Oh please. You loved it. I could totally make you fall in love with me by reciting poetry."

For a moment Nico thought about the brief feeling of an arrow he'd had earlier, then he shook that thought from his mind. Nico laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Please. It would take more than that." Nico scoffed.

"Oh whatever. I could totally make you fall in love with me," Will exclaimed.

"Could not!"

"Could too!"

"There is no way you could make me fall in love with you, Solace." Nico said. Will looked at Nico.

"Is that a challenge, Death Boy?"

"No! It's a fact." Nico said, glaring at Will.

Will stood up, smirked at Nico for a second, then grabbed Nico's wrist and pulled him towards him.

The only reason Nico collided into Will was because he let it happen. Nico was much stronger than Will, especially in combat. However, Nico wasn't sure which would be more embarrassing to admit: that he'd actually let Will Solace embrace him, or that he'd been bested by him.

" _I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)_ " Will murmered, placing his hand on the side of Nico's face.

If Nico could've melted into the floor at that very moment, he would have. His face was burning, but he didn't pull away. He wasn't sure what kept him there, but he was going to blame it on the stupid magic Apollo had passed on to his son.

" _I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you,_ "

Will's voice was soft and warm. Nico found it ironic that he was talking about the sun… He was the son of the Sun God… Gods. Were his eyes always that blue? It should be illegal to have cheekbones like that. And the freckles? It was like the fates had decided to play a cruel joke on the rest of the world by making Will so attractive.

" _Here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart._ "

Will leaned forward and Nico's eyes widened. He was certain Will was going to kiss him and Nico wasn't sure if he wanted to stop it or not. Will closed his eyes and Nico could feel his breath on his face. He felt as though he'd been electrocuted. As if Jason had summoned lightning to strike him.

" _I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)._ " Will whispered, then opened his eyes and pulled his head back, "See. I could totally make you fall in love with me."

Nico stared at Will, flabbergasted. What had just happened? He could still feel Will's arm around his waist. One of his hands was still on Nico's cheek. What was happening!? Nico's brain literally could not function at this moment in time.

Then Will grinned annoyingly at Nico.

"Are you in love with me yet, Death Boy?" He asked.

"Absolutely- Absolutely not!" Nico stammered, placing his palm on Will's chest and shoving him away, "That was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever experienced in my life you insufferable little—

"Nico. You're blushing." Will practically howled with laughter.

"I am going to kill you." Nico growled.

Will just laughed.

"It's not funny! I am not in love with you!" Nico stamped his foot.

"Okay, okay!" Will chuckled, "We should probably try and get some rest. I have a feeling we are going to have a long day tomorrow."

"You're right." Nico said, turning to pull back the sheets on his bunk, grateful for an excuse to look away from Will.

Nico didn't know what had happened, but he refused to admit that it had been pleasant. He most definitely was uncomfortable. He most definitely had NOT wanted Will to kiss him. And if he had, then it was because of Apollo's magic.

Nico got into bed and glanced around, the Hades cabin didn't look that bad, honestly. A few cracks in the floor and some cracked mirrors, but otherwise it was fine.

Will settled into a bed across the room. He grinned at Nico before turning off the lights.

It was quiet for a few moments and Nico was grateful for the darkness. He didn't have to keep up appearances now. He could let himself be baffled by what had happened between him and Will.

"Hey, Will?" Nico said after a while.

"Yeah?" Came a sleepy response.

"I hope you live up to your dad's reputation and wake up early. If not, we're going to have a lot of questions to answer in the morning."


	25. Chapter 25- Nico

Will did, in fact, wake up early. However, he did not wake up early enough. Nico does not like to wake up early, therefore he was severly displeased when he was awoken at 7-freaking-am by a panicked Will whisper yelling "Shit shit shit!".

"What is your problem?" Nico grumbled, covering his face with a pillow.

"I woke up late!"

"Dude, breakfast hasn't even started yet. You're fine. Just go." Nico called from underneath his pillow.

This was too much social interaction for one morning.

"No! You don't understand! My siblings wake up at 7! They defintetly know I didn't come back to the cabin last night!" Will exclaimed, frantically making his bed.

"Oh my gods. I am trying to sleep." Nico grumbled and threw his pillow across the room. It hit Will in the face. The blonde looked slightly dazed for a moment, then he glared at Nico.

"Firstly, I'm glad to see that you're in a good mood after our little heart to heart. Secondly, you need to come with me and explain this whole situation." Will whispered.

Nico made some unintelligible noise in response and pulled his blankets higher.

"Nico! They're going to come looking for me!"

At this moment there came a knock on the Hades Cabin door and Will turned white as a ghost.

"They've found me!" He whispered.

"Oh my god. Sneak out the window again if it's that big of a deal." Nico grumbled.

The knocking continued.

Will frantically tried to open the window. The knocking didn't stop.

Nico opened one eye and watched in groggy amusement as Will finally opened the window and got one leg over the sill when he let out a scream and fell backwards into the cabin.

"There's a spider out there." Will whispered.

"Then I guess you're stuck here." Nico grumbled, closing his eyes again.

"Nico! Help me!" Will cried, shaking Nico's shoulders.

"Get off of me, Jesus! You're the one who snuck into my cabin." Nico cried, shoving Will away and burying himself into his blankets.

"I didn't SNEAK into anywhere. You pushed me through your window because a harpy was going to eat us!" Will exclaimed, "Now come on. I'm not facing them alone!"

"Leave me alone, Solace." Nico grumbled.

Nico was, in fact, feeling better than he had in a long time. That did not, however, make him a morning person. He definitely was not peeking over the covers at Will every so often and admiring how unfairly cute he was in the morning. He wasn't thinking that he was adorable when he was panicked over something that didn't really matter. He just definitely wasn't very interested in Will at all. Nope. Not at all.

The knocking finally stopped and Will slipped over to the door. He pulled a curtain back and peered out.

"Oh shit." He whispered and quickly jumped from the window, "Delilah and Jason are out there. Nico. Get up!"

Will proceeded to try and get Nico out of bed, which didn't go well. Nico ended up kicking Will in the chest and burrowing under his blankets. Will ripped the blankets off the bed all the while cursing and telling Nico to get up.

"This is harassment." Nico called from underneath his blanket cocoon.

He may or may not have been really enjoying this.

"Nico. Get the fuck up!" Will yelled, slapping him with a pillow.

"You know, if they didn't know you were here before… They definitely do now with your screaming." Nico's voice was muffled underneath the blankets.

"Nico! We have to get to breakfast. We are going to have questions to answer. What are we going to do!?"

"Tell them I wasn't feeling well." Nico said, "You are my doctor after all."

"Kayla isn't going to believe that." Will said.

"Then tell them the truth."

"You would be okay with that?" Will asked, incredulous.

"If it makes you happy and gets you away from me right now, I don't care what you do." Nico grumbled.

"You are impossible!" Will exclaimed, "And it's not like they'd believe the truth anyway!"

As if to prove Will's point, Jason tapped on the door.

"Guys!? Uh… Are you decent? I'm happy you're having a good time and all… Uh… I just wanted to… uh say… have fun today… and stuff…" Jason was very uncomfortable.

Nico couldn't help it. He started laughing.

"Nico. Shhhh. This isn't funny!" Will hissed.

"Oh my gods. What are you guys DOING in there!?" A new voice called.

It was Delilah.

Nico was laying flat on his back on his cot. Will had jerked his blankets off him and they were laying in the floor.

"Get up, Nico!" Will hissed.

"Go away, Solace." Nico said.

Suddenly, Nico felt warm hands close around his ankles and Will yanked him out of bed. Nico hit the ground with a thud.

"Ow." He grumbled.

"You're fine. Get up." Will hissed.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

Nico crawled over to his blankets in the floor and curled up in them.

"You are IMPOSSIBLE!" Will exclaimed and lunged at Nico, which Nico found very irritating and very funny at the same time.

Will landed on top of Nico and was attempting to drag him away from the blankets as Nico clawed wildly for something to grab onto.

And it was at this moment that Delilah finished picking the lock on the door and swung it open.

Nico and Will froze. Nico was on his stomach, clutching the leg of the bunk bed. Will was on all fours, straddling Nico with his hands around Nico's waist in an attempt to pull him away from the bed.

They stared at Delilah in shock.

Delilah stared at them in shock.

Her lock pick fell out of her hand.

"Oh-

"Delilah this isn't-

"My-

"We weren't-

"GODS! Were you guys seriously just fuc-

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Will howled and hastily got up and tried to explain what had happened.

Nico took his blankets and got back in bed.

Then Kayla arrived.

"No note. No phone call. Nothing. You just disappeared off into the night!" Kayla exclaimed, "We thought you were dead! And then we come to find out you were SLEEPING IN THE HADES CABIN!"

"We had a medical emergency." Will said.

"Oh yeah?" Kayla asked, squinting at Will.

"Yes."

"If by medical emergency you mean too severely sex deprived teenage boys who want to-

"Kayla. Leave it." Will snapped.

"We're not done with this conversation. Later." She said, pointing a finger between Will and Nico, "I know what's going on here."

Will ran his hands through his hair nervously as Nico burrowed deeper in the covers.

"Are you guys almost ready to go?" Delilah asked, "Or do I need to leave you alone for a little while to sort all you… kinks out…"

"Uh. We need breakfast." Will said, choosing to ignore Delilah's last comment.

"I don't eat." Nico offered from his bed.

"Oh yes you do." Will snapped. He grabbed Nico by the arm and drug him out of bed and towards the pavilion.


	26. Chapter 26- Will

Something had changed between Will and Nico overnight. Will couldn't help but notice it. They bickered constantly, but it was with a kind of ease and enjoyment. There wasn't any tension between them anymore. Nico seemed to feel at ease around Will, and due to that he appeared more at ease with the camp.

After force feeding Nico breakfast and dealing with lots of stares and giggles form his siblings and friends, Will and Nico met up with Delilah on top of Half Blood Hill. Even Percy had waggled his eyebrows at Will as they walked across the pavilion.

"You guys ready for a shopping trip of amazing proportions!?" Delilah asked.

"No." Nico said, Will elbowed him.

"Of course we are!" Will grinned. His newest sister was so overly enthusiastic about everything.

"Great! We'd better go!" Delilah said, then literally cartwheeled down the hill.

Nico glanced at Will and whispered "Crazzzyyy". Will elbowed him and followed after her to a small black car at the bottom of the hill.

"How did you manage this, Delilah?" Nico asked, as he and Will crawled into the back seat. Delilah pursed her lips at the apparently mysterious seating arrangement but didn't comment. Instead, she cranked the car.

"I have my ways!" Delilah grinned at them in the rearview mirror.

"This is definitely going to be interesting," Will said, buckling his seatbelt.

"More like a journey to the underworld with a crazy chipmunk on speed." Nico grumbled.

"It won't be that bad." Will said. Delilah started giggling.

"I'm stuck in the car with two children of Apollo. I am going to die." Nico said, fastening his seat belt and grabbing the safety bar closest to him.

"Speaking of children of Apollo, I brought my aux cord!" Delilah chirped holding it up for them to see. She plugged it in and Will eagerly leaned forward to help with music selection.

"Oh my gods. Do you have Broadway!?" Will exclaimed when he saw the album art for Wicked.

Nico groaned.

"I'm literally going to die." He mumbled.

"You're fine." Will called over his shoulder.

"So much for the caring doctor," Nico grumbled. Will chose not to respond, but he smiled as he scrolled through Delilah's playlist.

Nico seemed so much… lighter? Happier? More at ease? Will didn't know how to explain it but it was nice. He felt like he could actually joke with him. After last night, Will was certain today was going to be all serious and angst-y, but their crazy night of tears and heart-to-heart conversations seemed to have improved Nico's mood.

Delilah put her iPod on shuffle and Will proceeded to skip a bunch of songs until he came to one he liked.

Nico was glaring at the pair of siblings and Will turned to address the whiny son of Hades.

"You got to listen to your music last night," He said, pointing a finger at Nico, "Now it's my turn."

"You're literally the most annoying person I've ever met." Nico griped.

"I thought that was me!" Delilah chirped from the front seat. She bounced up and down and claimed she loved the song that Will had just skipped.

"Consider yourself a part of the family," Will said, chuckling, "We children of Apollo always argue over music and are quite inconsiderate when we have control over one's iPod."

"Ugh!" Delilah grumbled.

"I'm literally going to die here." Nico moaned.

Delilah glanced at Will with a questioning look. Obviously, she was baffled by Nico's better attitude as well. She didn't, however, comment on it. Will was grateful for this.

He glanced over at Nico as Delilah quickly pulled up a Broadway playlist. Nico was wearing Will's sweatpants and a camp half-blood tee shirt. His dark hair was falling into his eyes like usual, but there was a different look in his dark eyes. He almost looked happy.

Delilah put the car into drive after ensuring everyone had on their seatbelts then floored it. Will and Nico quickly made friends with the back of the headrests in front of them.

"Jeez. Delilah." Will mumbled, pulling away from the headrest.

"Sorry!" She smiled.

"Remember when I said I was going to die? Well now I'm being serious. I'm pretty sure she's going to get us killed." Nico said to Will.

"Shush! It'll be fine!" Delilah chided.

Nico slumped against the seat and looked out the window with his arms crossed. Will began shuffling through Delilah's iPod's playlist. He looked at them both, and smiled. Maybe today was going to be a good day after all.

Will saw Defying Gravity from Wicked and quickly hit play.

"Ooooooh! I like your taste!" Delilah laughed, and proceeded to belt out the lyrics with Will.

Will was pretty sure Nico was staring at him, but he didn't comment. Will pointedly ignored him. His judgment wasn't going to stop Will from enjoying Broadway music!

" _I think I'll try defying gravity! Kiss me goodbye! I'm defying gravity!"_ Will sang.

"I am literally so embarrassed to know you." Nico muttered.

"No you aren't!" Will smiled and poked his arm.

Next song on Delilah's iPod was Footloose. Will and Delilah got down singing that song. Nico stared out the window and ignored them. The countryside flew past as Delilah drove them towards the city.

She rounded a curve a little too fast and it threw Will into Nico. Will's shoulder slammed into Nico's and their legs were pressed against each other. Will felt heat crawling up his neck. Nico froze for a few seconds.

"You're in my bubble." Nico finally said, "Can you please scoot over?"

"I just popped your bubble." Will said, reaching over and poking Nico in the arm.

"Well I'd like to reinstate my bubble."

"I just popped it again." Will mimed popping a bubble.

"Well I just reinstated it again and now it's indestructible."

"Well, then so is my bubble!"

"Will. You literally haven't moved."

"I didn't say I was going to move."

"But your bubble and my bubble can't be touching."

"Yeah they can."

"Oh my gods. You are insufferable!" Nico exclaimed and shouldered Will to the other side of the car.

"You just enacted bubble bumper cars!" Will exclaimed, shoving Nico back.

"I'm going to get you for that!" Nico exclaimed and dove across the backseat.

Will shoved him away. Nico somehow managed to get his foot in Will's face. He pressed Will's face into the window.

"I'm going to get you!" Will cried, swiping his arms uselessly at Nico.

"I'm the fighter here, remember?" Nico called happily as he had the majority of the seat to himself.

"How do you even take up that much room!? You're literally like 120 pounds!" Will exclaimed.

"Pure talent."

"You're such a pain in my-

"Don't say it, Solace."

"Ass." Will finished.

Nico was about to lunge across the seat again, having just removed his foot from Will's face a few minutes ago, but then the song changed and Nico sat up straight.

"Hey… I actually like this song."

"You've liked all the songs I've played." Delilah called back.

"Have not!"

"I saw you singing along!" She retorted.

"That- I- I was not!"

"Were too!"

"That doesn't mean I like them!" Nico exclaimed.

"Whatever." Delilah rolled her eyes and turned up the volume of the song Nico liked.

"No way!" Will exclaimed, looking at Nico with wide eyes.

"What!?" Nico asked.

"You do not like this song!"

"Yes I do!"

"No! I like this song!"

"We're allowed to like the same songs, Solace."

"No we aren't! This is Pentatonix!"

"Yes. Can't Sleep Love. And I like it."

"But I like it!"

"And so do I. I like more than my… what did you call Fall Out Boy, MCR, Twenty-One Pilots and Panic! at the Disco?"

"Nico's teenage angst-y pop emo punk music." Will supplied.

"Right. I like more than just that music."

"But… I'm supposed to be the diverse music taste one in the relationship."

"Will. WHAT relationship!?" Nico exclaimed, putting his hand on his forehead.

"The friendship!"

"Well. I like this song."

"Well you guys are totally missing the whole song because you're arguing." Delilah scolded and started the song over again.


	27. Chapter 27- Nico

If anyone asked, Nico hated the car ride. It was miserable and full of crappy Broadway music and bickering. He definitely did not enjoy riding in the back seat of a car listening to Pentatonix, Broadway, and Fall Out Boy.

And he definitely did not, under any circumstance and despite what any blonde headed daughter of Apollo may say, flirt with Will Solace. That did not happen. Period.

He did not steal glances at the son of Apollo who seemed to practically glow with happiness. He didn't admire the way his golden curls fell around his face. And he did not play footsie with Will. He kicked Will in the shins. Very hard. Repeatedly. Not footsie.

Nico hated the car ride, but he REALLY started to hate it when Will and Delilah began to bond over their favorite Broadway tunes that Nico had never even heard of.

"OHHHH! Turn it up!" Will exclaimed when a song Nico didn't know came on.

Delilah laughed, "You know this song?"

"Yeah! It's great!"

"Duet time!" Delilah exclaimed. Will grinned and then cleared his throat.

" _Aah, an afternoon alone with_

 _My favorite book, "Broadway_

 _Musicals of the 1940s."_

 _No roommate to bother me._

 _How could it get any better than this?"_

Nico stifled a laugh.

Delilah called out " _Oh, hi Rod!"_

Will faked a grimace and said in a very irritated voice " _Hi Nicky."_

Delilah waved a hand in the air as she happily sang out,

" _Hey Rod, you'll never_

 _Guess what happened to_

 _Me on the subway this morning._

 _This guy was smiling at me and talking to me_ "

" _That's very interesting,"_ Will said

" _He was being real friendly,_

 _And I think he was coming on to me._

 _I think he might've thought I was gay_!"

" _Ahem, so, uh, why are you telling me this?_

 _Why should I care?_

 _I don't care._

 _What did you have for lunch today_?" Will grumbled.

" _Oh, you don't have to get all defensive about it, Rod…"_ Delilah said with the song.

Then both Delilah and Will shouted " _I'm NOT getting defensive! What do I care about some gay guy you met, okay? I'm TRYING to read!"_

" _Oh I didn't mean anything by it, Rod. I just think it's something we should be able to talk about."_ Delilah said/sang.

" _I don't want to talk about it,"_ Will huffed, " _This conversation is OVER!"_

What kind of song was this? Nico wondered, watching the pair sing/argue. This was one weird Broadway song.

" _Yeah, but…"_ Delilah said

" _OVER!"_ Will shouted

" _Well, okay… But just so you know…"_ Delilah murmured then Will and she both burst into song

" _IF YOU WERE GAY THAT'D BE OKAY. I MEAN 'CAUSE, HEY, I'D LIKE YOU ANYWAY!" Will elbowed Nico, "BECAUSE YOU SEE, IF IT WERE ME, I WOULD FEEL FREE TO SAY THAT I WAS GAY! BUT I'M NOT GAY!"_

"Oh my gods. You guys need to stop." Nico exclaimed as Rod grumbled something about trying to read.

" _IF YOU WERE QUEER,"_ Delilah and Will belted.

"Please stop," Nico grumbled.

" _I'D STILL BE HERE!"_ Will sang pointedly at Nico, nudging him.

"Guys, seriously. I'm not singing this song."

" _YEAR AFTER YEAR!"_ Will fell over into Nico's lap.

"Will!"

" _BECAUSE YOU'RE DEAR TO ME, ROD! AND I KNOW THAT YOU WOULD ACCEPT ME TOO!"_

"I'm going to jump out of this vehicle."

" _IF I TOLD YOU TODAY, 'HEY! GUESS WHAT, I'M GAY' BUT I'M NOT GAY!"_

"Yes, you are!" Nico exclaimed exasperated. Delilah roared with laughter and Will kept singing.

" _I'M HAPPY JUST BEING WITH YOU!"_ Will sang, then leaned closer to Nico and practically screamed, " _SO WHAT SHOULD IT MATTER TO ME WHAT YOU DO IN BED WITH GUYS?"_

"Solace!" Nico cried, he felt himself blush.

" _IF YOU WERE GAY I'D SHOUT HOORAY! AND HERE I'D STAY!"_

"I'm ignoring you."

" _BUT I WOULDN'T GET IN YOUR WAY! YOU CAN COUNT ON ME TO ALWAYS BE BESIDE YOU EVERY DAY, TO TELL YOU ITS OKAY. YOU WERE JUST BORN THAT WAY. AND, AS THEY SAY, IT'S IN YOUR DNA, YOU'RE GAY!"_

"I hate you," Nico grumbled, covering his red face with his hands.

Will and Delilah practically died laughing.

"That's like my favorite song in the world!" Delilah exclaimed.

"Same here!"

"That was so much fun!"

"No, it was not." Nico huffed.

"Oh I'm sorrrryyyy Neeekkkkksss!" Will cooed. Nico was glad his face was already red so Will wouldn't know he'd just made Nico blush again.

"What did you just call me?" Nico asked quietly.

"I called you Neeks. But I think I still prefer Death Boy. But did we embarrass you?" Will asked, grinning.

"Yes. Yes you did." Nico grumbled. Will just laughed.

Will kicked Nico gently and Nico kicked him back harder. This led to a kicking war. Not footsie. It was war, not love. It quickly escalated into another backseat wrestling match, but this time Will began to tickle Nico.

"That is not fair!" Nico howled and Will held his hands above his head and sat on his legs.

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Man. I could cut the sexual tension with a knife." Delilah commented.

"Hey!"

"That is not-

"We are not-

"There is none-

"Chill out, you two," Delilah chided, "I'm just teasing. Look. We're here."

It was true. They were pulling into a mall parking garage.

"I still can't believe you managed this." Nico said.

"Yeah… About that…I… uh… May have lied a little bit." Delilah said sheepishly.

"You what?!" Will exclaimed, "What did you lie about!?"

"Um… I may have told Chiron I was going to visit Julliard…" Delilah mumbled.

"Delilah!" Will and Nico cried. Nico was pretty certain that this girl was way more trouble than she was worth.

"You mean he doesn't know we are going to the mall!?" Will asked. He was panicking, Nico could tell by the way he ran his hands through his hair. They were so dead.

"Uh… I mentioned something about picking up some clothes…" Delilah smiled into the rearview mirror.

"You do realize we're dead right?" Will asked, "Chiron is literally going to kill us."

"He is not. You guys go to the mall and I'll catch up with you later." Delilah suggested.

"We can't split up! It's dangerous." Will said, his head counselor attitude making an appearance again.

"It'll be fine. I've lived on my own with monsters for 18 years. I really want to go see Julliard. I promise I'll meet up with you guys later. It'll be okay." Delilah said.

"No. We stick together." Will said firmly. Delilah scrunched her eyes up at him for a few seconds then she conceded.

"Okay. Fine. Here, get out and I'll park. We'll make an hour stop here and then go to Julliard." She said. Will obliged and Nico followed suit.

However, instead of parking, Delilah locked the doors and called out "I'll see you guys around 1 o'clock! Promise!"

"Delilah! What are you doing!?" Will yelled.

"You tricked us!?" It was an exclamation and a question. Nico was impressed and angry.

"Yep! It's called a hustle, sweetheart! I'll be back soon! Promise!" Delilah called and proceeded to drive away with Will running after her.

"We kind of walked right into that one… Getting out of the car before she parked…." Nico mused.

"We are so dead. So so so dead." Will said, running his hands through his hair as he walked back to Nico, "Chiron is going to kill me."

"Not if Chiron doesn't find out," Nico supplied, scuffing his shoes on the asphalt.

"Oh my gods. I hope she's okay."

"Will, there's nothing we can do. She'll be alright. If anyone is going to get in trouble, it'll be Delilah." Nico tried to be comforting.

"Do you really think she'll be okay?" Will asked.

"Yeah. Yeah I do." Nico said, and it was the truth, "If she isn't back by 1 o'clock like she said we'll go look for her. I can shadow travel us directly to Julliard. Now come on. I have a very important appointment with Hot Topic." Nico said, smiling thinly at Will.


	28. Chapter 28- Nico

Nico definitely wasn't having the time of his life. Definitely not. What would give you that impression? He was strolling through a mall with a really cute -er- Really annoying Will Solace next to him.

Hot Topic was Nico's only stop. It was his favorite store. It had everything he could ever need. He didn't know how Will felt about the store. Will didn't seem like the black skinny jean type. However, Will seemed pretty content to stop by there. He smiled pleasantly and hummed to himself as they walked towards the store.

Nico felt his heart pick up a little bit as he looked at Will. He reminded Nico of Apollo. His blonde curls looked like they were made of gold. His eyes were so bright and blue and filled with happiness that they made Nico's head spin when he looked at them. He'd definitely inherited his father's looks. And his height… Gods. He was so tall. Nico had a few growth spurts and he was taller than most people, mainly girls, but Will was taller than almost everyone. He was definitely over 6 foot. And his build…

Nico shook his head. Now was not the time to start checking Will out.

"Hey Death Boy! I hear the songs of your people!" Will joked, gesturing towards the end of the mall strip. The Hot Topic sign glowed like a beacon for all emo kids trapped in this New York Mall hell. Nico felt a grin spread across his face.

As they walked Nico noticed that the mall wasn't very crowded besides a few groups of teens and families. Most of the workers were teenagers, obviously working for money to blow during the school year.

They passed by an ice cream store and the girls at the counter began giggling and looking their way. Don't ask why Nico noticed that. He may be an ice cream addict. He just really loved ice cream, okay? He wondered who the girls were giggling about and looked around. No one else was near the store besides him and Will…

Nico realized with a start that they were checking them out.

Well. More specifically, checking Will out.

"Free sample?" One asked as they passed. Will smiled graciously and accepted. How oblivious. Nico rolled his eyes. Of course Will would accept their flirting. Nico felt an uncomfortable pang of irritation that he didn't quite understand.

"They're staring at us." Will murmured, dropping the free sample in a trash can, "Do you think they're monsters?"

Nico laughed. "No. I'm pretty sure they're just normal teenage girls."

"How do you know?" Will asked.

"I don't sense anything from Tartarus in this mall." Nico said, "Plus, that one with the blonde hair just told her friend you have a cute butt."

Will's face reddened.

"Oh." He managed.

"Yeah. You're apparently popular with these mall goers." Nico said, gesturing to another girl across the mall strip who was whispering to her friend and glancing over at them.

"They could be checking you out." Will grumbled, running a hand through his hair. His face was red.

"I don't think so. I'm not exactly the type of guy who gets checked out in a mall. I'm creepy, remember? I don't remind people of a large puppy with my friendly oblivious nature."

Will scrunched up his face and glared at Nico.

"Well, I think you look lovely." Will stuck his tongue out at Nico.

"Oh thanks. Because I'm so distraught over not being harassed in a mall." Nico rolled his eyes, but his heart did a little flip over Will saying he looked lovely.

Finally, the pair arrived at Hot Topic. Nico could have bounced up and down he was so happy. It felt like a safe haven from all the weird normal people.

"Um. Nico. How are you planning on paying for everything?" Will asked.

"My dad is the god of the Underworld. All the riches in the world are his. Therefore, I have an emergency Underworld Credit Card."

"This isn't an emergency." Will stated.

"Sure it is. Have you seen my clothes?"

Will laughed, "Well I'm glad you have money. I just have a little bit of left over Christmas money from my mom."

Nico stared at Will for a few seconds.

"I'll pay for you." He said.

"No way! I can't let you do that!" Will exclaimed.

"Too bad. You don't get a say." Nico said then turned and began hunting for clothes.

Will looked through all the little figurines while Nico found four or five pairs of dark skinny jeans.

"Hold these for me, would you?" Nico asked, tossing them to Will. He caught them reluctantly.

I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy blared from the speakers. A girl with lots of piercings stood nearby looking at the collection of nose rings.

"Look at this cute pokemon shirt!" Will exclaimed, pointing excitedly to a bright orange shirt with charmander on it.

"Get it." Nico said, looking at Will.

"No way! I told you. I'm not taking your money."

"Too bad." Nico said, then grabbed a shirt.

"You don't even know if that's my size." Will snapped.

"It's a large. You typically wear a medium but Hot Topic runs small." Nico called over his shoulder and grabbing a shopping bag.

"How do you know that?" Will stammered. His face was red again. Did he have a sunburn or a fever or something?

"I've been wearing your clothes for almost a week." Nico answered, putting the shirt and the skinny jeans in a shopping bag.

Nico wasn't sure how long they spent in hot topic, but he didn't care. They had a good time. He found lots of skinny jeans, and got quite a few band tee shirts.

"Can't you get anything that isn't black?" Will complained, staring into the bag.

"Nope."

"Your dad is going to be pissed." Will said.

"No he isn't. All the money in the world is his anyway. It all comes back to him in the end. What does it matter if I spend a few hundred dollars when he has millions more? He probably won't even notice." Nico explained, grabbing a shirt with My Chemical Romance printed on the front.

"Do you want anything?" Nico asked as he grabbed a belt and a pair of black converse.

"No." Will said.

"Well, we can stop by a store you like next so you can get clothes too." Nico said as he walked towards the check out line.

He paid for the clothes with no problem. The lady at the register didn't question his credit card. Nico shoved it into a new wallet he'd just bought and then headed back to Will.

The blonde boy seemed so out of place here in his beach shorts and tie-dyed tee shirt.

"I need to go to the bathroom and change." Nico said. Will rolled his eyes, but followed him out of the store any way.


	29. Chapter 29- Will

Mall bathrooms are disgusting, Will thought as he held a bag filled with clothes. Nico had grabbed what he wanted from the bag and headed into a stall to change. This left Will to stand outside and look very uncomfortable as other guys came and went about their business.

"Nico you're taking forever." Will called, as he tried to avoid meeting anyone's gaze.

Will was gay. He knew that. Nico knew that. But that didn't mean he wanted to announce it around an angry macho guy in a mall bathroom. Eye contact was not a good idea in here.

"Sorry." Nico called, unlatching the stall door and walking out of the bathroom, "How do I look? I feel much more like myself."

Will swallowed and had to control his breathing as he looked at Nico. His face was the same as it had been this morning, but everything else was different. Good different. Make Will feel slightly hot under the collar different.

Nico was wearing his black My Chemical Romance tee shirt and a pair of sinfully tight black skinny jeans that made Will's brain feel like it was melting. His new black converse were laced in messy double knots.

"Solace?" Nico asked, waving a hand in front of his face, "Come in Solace. You okay?"

"Fine!" Will said, slightly shrilly. "You look great."

 _Like really great…. Shut up Will!_

"Yeah. I know." Nico laughed and Will was truly amazed at the change that had occurred in Nico within the past day. He shoved the rest of the clothes into a backpack he'd bought and Will was grateful that Nico walked out in front of him…So Nico couldn't see how red his face was…Not because he was still caught up over the sinfully tight skinny jeans. He was over them. Totally.

Will kept his eyes down as they left the bathroom. That was the best way to leave a male bathroom. Just walk away with your eyes down. No eye contact. No talking. No nodding. No acknowledgement. Nobody ever spoke to Will in a bathroom and no one had ever really harassed him over his sexuality either. These two things meant that he was shocked when a guy called he and Nico a derogatory name as they passed.

Nico's back stiffened.

Will swallowed.

"What did you just say?" Nico asked quietly. Will could feel the temperature in the bathroom dropping.

"Let's go, Nico." Will said, "He's just a bigot."

"No. I think he should explain to my face what his problem is!" Nico snapped, whirling around in the bathroom. The lights were starting to flicker.

"Nico. Let's. Go." Will murmured, stepping in front of Nico and the grinning bigot.

"Will, move." Nico seethed.

"What do you expect to do? He's _mortal_ , Nico. _Mortal_." Will whispered, putting his hand on Nico's chest.

"Did you hear him?" Nico asked, "Did you hear him!?"

"Yes. Nico. Let's go. He's just wanting a fight. Come on. You're going to attract unwanted attention if you keep making a scene." Will whispered.

Nico glared around Will at the guy.

"What's the matter, princess? Afraid your boy can't take me?" The guy laughed, bumping Will as he walked out of the bathroom. Nico turned at started after him. The ground around his feet was steaming.

"Nico. Stop." Will hissed and grabbed his wrist. He had to jerk Nico back and he ended up falling into Will.

Nico was cold. Ice cold. He was angry. Will supposed he got that cold when he was angry.

"Nico. Look at me. Let's go. It isn't a big deal," Will whispered, looking into Nico's eyes.

"Will, he-

"I know."

"He _touched_ you." Nico hissed.

"Yes. And I'm fine. No harm no foul. Let's go. _Please."_ Will put all the calming power he had in that please. Nico glared at him and then sighed.

"Okay. Okay, fine."

"Thank you." Will breathed a sigh of relief and led Nico out of the bathroom.

"How do you listen to that kind of stuff all the time?" Nico asked as they emerged from the bathroom.

"I just think about how they must have been raised by an ignorant family and feel bad for them because they don't understand. And what they don't understand, they lash out against." Will said.

Nico scuffed his shoes on the floor. Gods. Those skinny jeans were really tight.

Nico took a deep breath.

"Okay. You're right."

Will stared at him in surprise.

"You-You're okay?" He stammered.

"If you can be okay, then I can too. Or I can at least try to be." Nico shrugged and scuffed his converse on the floor.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Nico." Will said gently, smiling down at Nico.

"So am I… Now where do you want to go?"

"Are you sure your dad won't be upset with you spending a bunch of money?" Will asked nervously.

"Positive."

"Okay… Well… I really need some new scrubs."

"Then let's go get some new scrubs," Nico said, shouldering the backpack.

How was he so muscular? He ate less than a bird. Yet, he was toned from battle. Will swallowed and followed Nico across the mall.

Nico had said that those girls were staring at Will earlier, but now they were definitely staring at Nico. He looked like a hundred bucks. Emo, bad boy, hundred bucks, but still. Who didn't love a bad boy?

He looked good. Everyone knew that besides Nico himself.

"So, where do we find scrubs?" Nico asked Will, smiling, completely oblivious to the stares he was getting. Will was just glad that Nico's obliviousness allowed him to remain in awe of what Will had now dubbed the sinfully-tight-skinny-jeans.

"Down here and to the right, I think," Will said, grinning at Nico.

Nico nodded and they headed off to find scrubs with Will finding every excuse he could to check Nico out as subtly as possible.


	30. Chapter 30- Nico

At twelve the boys went to the food court to eat. Nico was decked out in his new clothes. Will had a new backpack and scrubs. He'd even gotten a pair of jeans and a few tee shirts. That may or may not have required a lot of prodding from Nico.

"Delilah should be here soon." Will said, nervously eating a french fry.

"She'll be fine." Nico assured him, nibbling on a single fry.

"You need to eat something." Will scolded.

"I am eating something." Nico said, waving the fry around.

"Something with sustenance." Will corrected

"I'm fine."

"You look like a ghost," Will said.

Nico stared at him.

"I'm the Ghost King." He finally said.

Will rolled his eyes. He was really cute when he did that, Nico noted.

"I think you look great." Someone called from about a foot away.

Nico and Will glanced over to see a girl in skinny jeans and a low cut tank top smiling at Nico.

"Uh… Thanks." Nico said. Did he know this girl?

"Where are you from?" She asked, walking over towards them. If she was asking that then they probably didn't know each other.

"Uh. That depends. I've been a lot of places." Nico said.

Will was staring between the two of them with a confused expression.

"Cool. A guy of mystery. My name's Brittney."

"Um. I'm Nico." Nico said. This girl wasn't a monster, so why was she taking an interest in him.

"Hi, would you like to sit down…." Will started to ask.

Brittney ignored Will completely and sat down next to Nico.

"I guess you would…" Will mumbled, squinting at this new girl.

"I like your hair." She smiled.

"Um. Thanks?" Nico said, "Why are you talking to me?"

Will snorted and gave Nico a thumbs up where Brittney couldn't see. Not that she was paying him any attention anyway.

Nico had been alive for a long time. People didn't surprise him often, but this girl did. She smiled at Nico and then proceeded to sit in his lap.

She just scooted over and put her butt in Nico's lap. What was she doing!?

"Because I think you're cute." Brittney said, putting a hand on the side of Nico's face.

Nico recoiled in horror. She was WAY too close to him right now. She was in his lap! She was touching his face! Nico had no idea what to do about this. He couldn't beat this crazy mortal girl up. He was't prepared for this.

Thankfully, Will chose this moment to introduce himself. He got up from the table and walked over to the uncomfortable Nico and the way too comfortable Brittney.

"Hi. I'm Will. You're not his type, unfortunately." Will said, gently.

Brittney started to protest "Oh as if-

"Consent is a very important thing. You should always ask before touching someone. Nico here obviously did not consent and you're making him very uncomfortable right now. That's not cool." Will explained, taking the girls hand in his and guiding her back to her original table, "Have a good day. Remember, consent!"

Nico was still sitting in the chair, face frozen in disgust. When Will returned and saw him he started laughing.

"What just happened!?" Nico hissed. Will was still laughing.

"I told you. You look good. It's the twenty-first century. Emo bad boys are all the craze."

"Emo bad boys?" Nico asked confused.

"She was hitting on you, Nico." Will said gently, still chuckling.

"I hate everything." Nico grumbled, "I need to scrub my everything."

Will laughed.

"Come on, Death Boy. There's a Starbucks over there. We can go get a drink while we wait on Delilah."

Nico followed Will numbly. If he hadn't been so shocked he may have noticed something was wrong, but he didn't.

"You want anything?" Will asked, pulling out his wallet and approaching the counter.

A good looking brunette stood at the counter. He looked about sixteen.

"Hi! Welcome to Starbucks." The guy smiled brilliantly at Will as Will walked up.

"Hi!" Will said, smiling back.

Was his face red?

"I like the double espresso." Nico said, touching Will's wrist with his fingertips.

"Uh… Yeah… I'll take a double espresso and a hot cocoa." Will said, still staring at the guy behind the counter.

"You got it. Can I have a name?... for your order?" He asked, flashing that brilliant smile again.

"Will. Will Solace." Will said.

His voice was way too breathless for Nico's taste. Nico tapped his foot impatiently and sat down in a nearby chair. He watched as Will tried to pay, but the guy refused. He was paying for them. Nico's blood felt boiling hot.

What was his problem? Nico didn't understand why he was so angry.

What was Will doing still talking to this guy!? Nico fumed as he watched Will laughing at the counter with the stupid Starbucks guy. Maybe Will should go explain consent to this guy…

Finally, Will walked over to Nico with their drinks. His face was flushed.

"Here you go," Will said, handing Nico a cup.

"Thanks." Nico snapped. He glanced down at his cup, then over at Will's.

"Will, is that a phone number on your cup!?" Nico exclaimed.

"What!? Oh… I guess it is." Will said, his face turning red.

"Oh my gods." Nico fumed as he sipped his double espresso. He didn't even like Starbucks anymore.

Then bartender guy walked over to the table.

"How is everything?" He asked, smiling.

"Well considering we haven't even gotten a sip in yet, I don't know." Nico snapped. Bartender guy ignored him. He was staring at Will.

"Great! It's great, thanks! Are you sure you don't want me to pay…?" Will asked.

"No. No. It's fine. On the house." The bartender grinned.

Nico looked out of the shop. He felt the ground steaming around his feet. He could not believe they were FLIRTING. Right in front of him! Will was flirting right in front of Nico!

But then again, why shouldn't he? It wasn't like he and Will were a thing. They were just friends. They were completely free to flirt with whomever they wished.

Suddenly, Nico noticed the girl who'd sat in his lap earlier chatting with another girl in shorts and a tank top. Someone bumped into them as they passed and Brittney bumped into a table. Her leg clanged like a piece of metal.

Wait.

Nico blinked furiously. When he looked again he saw the empousaii for a split second before the mist shrouded them again. He glanced over at brunette bartender guy and for a split second his hair turned into flames.

Could empousaii even BE dudes?

"Will. We need to go." Nico said.

"No, it's okay. Delilah will find us." Will said, grinning up at bartender guy.

"Yeah, Nico. It'll be fine." Bartender guy grinned at Nico. Will blinked.

"How do you know his name?" Will asked, confused.

"You told me, remember?" Bartender guy grinned at Will.

"Right… I told you…" Will said slowly.

Stupid empousaii magic, Nico thought.

Nico took a breath. He hated to break up the lovely flirt fest going on, but then again, no he didn't. Nico proceeded to flip the table sideways onto bartender guy.

"It's the Ghost King to you." Nico growled, then he grabbed Will's arm, "Snap. Out. Of . It." Nico said, staring intently into Will's blue eyes.

They looked clouded over, but as Nico stared at him Will blinked a few times and seemed to come to his senses.

"Oh my gods. What just happened?" He asked.

"You're an idiot who inherited his dad's flirtatious nature. That's what happened. Now come on." Nico said, dragging Will out of the Starbucks.

They hurried through the food court, looking for Delilah.

"She said she'd meet us here!" Will said frantically.

Nico reached over and unfastened a black bracelet around his left wrist. As he did so it morphed into his stygian iron sword. It was a really helpful bit of magic he'd gotten Lou Ellen to perform on his blade.

Finally, Nico spotted Delilah. She was riding down an escalator that came from the parking garage.

"There she is!" Nico said. He started waving frantically at Delilah, paying no mind to Will. She saw them, gestured somewhere behind Nico with wide eyes, and began to run down the escalator.

Nico looked back where Delilah had been pointing.

"Hey! What's your name?" A girl purred, holding onto Will's arm.

Will was trying to politely disentangle himself from her. Bless him. He was always so polite. The girl's hair flickered every so often between blonde and flames.

Nico stormed over and in one fluid motion shoved her away from Will and stabbed her.

"My name is Nico and he is gay." Nico growled. He turned back to Will.

"Please. Stop flirting with people. And stop being so damn polite! You're going to get us killed." Nico said.

Will started to protest, "I am not—

"Guys," Delilah called, running up, "We need to go. They're everywhere."

Nico looked around and realized that the mall had filled up as lunch approached and he could definitely sense Tartarus now.

"Let's go." Nico said, grabbing Will's arm and dragging him along as he and Delilah raced towards the escalators leading up.


	31. Chapter 31- WillNico

-Will-

"Man! What did you guys do!?" Delilah cried, as she raced up the escalator behind Nico and Will, "When I left you everything was normal!"

"Ask Will. He's the one who was flirting with the monsters." Nico snapped.

"Hey! I was not flirting with them!" Will exclaimed, "I was being friendly!"

It wasn't his fault he liked talking to people. And the bartender was cute. Not Nico cute, but cute. Although, the more Will thought about it, he didn't seem that attractive. He wasn't sure why he would even think about another guy when he had Nico… Well he didn't HAVE Nico, but no matter…It must've been some kind of magic.

"Well, please don't ever flirt with anyone again." Delilah wheezed.

Oh shit. Will had forgotten about her asthma.

"Are you okay?" Will asked as they reached the top of the escalator.

"Fine…Let's just go." Delilah said, hefting her backpack up. She wore a new Julliard sweatshirt that was way too big. Her face was flushed pink from the exertion of running.

"Guys. We have a problem." Nico said as they raced out the double doors.

"What…is it?" Delilah asked, coming to a stop beside Nico. Will scanned the cars looking for monsters.

"Our car is gone," He said in shock.

"Oh man! You've gotta be kidding me!" Delilah cried, "It was just five seconds!"

"This is New York, Delilah. You didn't leave the car unlocked, did you!?" Nico asked.

"I thought I locked it…" Delilah said, scrunching up her face, "Oh man oh man oh man."

"Guys…" Will said as he looked behind them, "We have a bigger problem then the stolen car. Look."

They turned around and came face to face with five empousaii.

"We can't take them. I don't have a weapon." Will whispered.

Nico reached into his backpack and pulled out a stygian iron dagger that he tossed to Will.

"We've got to try. Delilah, do you have a weapon?" Nico asked.

"Nope, but I can hold my own." Delilah assured them.

Will seriously doubted that. Delilah couldn't even walk without falling over. Now with her asthma acting up, Will wasn't sure what she was going to do.

"Nicoooo," One of the empousaii purred, "Long time no see."

"Listen lady," Delilah called from beside Will, "Your weirdo magic isn't going to work on us. Nobody here likes ladies. We're all boy crazed."

Will cringed.

"Delilah," Nico said, "Please never say anything like that again."

"You got it." Delilah grinned, "Let's take on these evil vampire ladies."

Will raised his dagger and glanced at Nico. Hopefully those lessons were going to pay off today. Nico's dark eyes glinted as he analyzed the situation. Delilah bounced on the balls of her feet.

They were probably going to die.

-Nico-

Things fell apart pretty quickly. Will didn't have a bow and that was one of the only things he was half decent with. Nico hadn't worked on knife fighting with Will, but he did the best he could… Better than Nico would've expected.

Delilah surprised him, too. She had apparently taken quite a bit of martial arts in her life because she was fairly skilled with hand to hand combat. She was still clumsy, but she was pretty good anyway.

She kicked an empousaii in the chest, tripped over a rock, started to fall and managed to roll and jump back to her feet. Clumsy, but impressive. She also yelled lots of distracting taunts at the monsters and moved around so quickly the empousaii couldn't keep track of her.

But she didn't have a weapon that could kill the empousaii so it didn't matter very much. She was also quickly running out of steam. Her asthma was kicking her butt and Nico could hear her gasping for breath.

Nico killed two empousaii, but then had to keep Will from dying. Together they vaporized another. Then Delilah screamed.

Nico and Will turned just in time to see Delilah get knocked across the parking lot. She'd been trying to catch her breath, on the verge of fainting, and the empousaii moved too quickly for her to dodge. She hit a blue Honda and crumpled to the ground.

"We can't take them." Nico said to Will.

They stood back to back as the empousaii paced around them.

"I know." Will said, "Nico… You're going to have to use your underworld magic. You'll have to shadow travel us out of here."

"You want me to use my underworld magic?" Nico asked, incredulous

"It's a life or death situation!" Will exclaimed, "Can you get us to Camp?"

"I should be able to get us to the top of the hill, but we need to get Delilah. We also need to get rid of these guys."

At that moment an empousaii lunged at Will. He went to stab the empousaii but she knocked the knife from his hand. Nico saw her bearing her fangs, flames flickering, as she stood over Will.

Nico couldn't get to Will in time. He drew his sword and dove at the empousaii but he knew it was too late. Will was too far away. Nico felt his heart stop, but the empousaii didn't attack. Instead her eyes widened and she made a small gurgling sound before dissolving into dust.

"Nico… Use… Your… Crazy D-Death magic." Delilah said, standing where the empousaii had been. The stygian iron knife was gripped in her hand.

"I- You… Okay. So maybe you aren't useless…" Nico admitted begrudgingly. Delilah managed a grin.

"You need to get rid of the others," Delilah said, she was swaying.

"Delilah-

"Nico! I've got her." Will grunted, struggling to his feet. He had a cut on his head, but seemed otherwise fine.

"Yeah. We…Got…. You" Delilah said faintly, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. Will caught her.

Nico felt the ground steaming around his feet. He reached out for his anger, which was never far away, and felt the cold creep all over his body. He willed the ground to open and swallow up the last two empousaii. They screeched and lunged at Nico, but it was too late. The ground swallowed them up and then closed, leaving a thin crack in the ground.

"We need to go," Nico said, turning to his friends. Will was holding Delilah up.

"You okay to do this?" Will asked.

"Of course I am." Nico grumbled.

Then the shouting started. Mortals were coming to see what had happened. Some probably even witnessed the fight. Who knew what they saw, but Nico knew he didn't want to be around to find out.

He grabbed Will's hand and grabbed Delilah's wrist. Nico willed the three of them to be dissolved by the darkness and they began to fall through the shadows.

A/N: Hello friends! I'm about to embark to college as we speak! Therefore, I'm hoping that I will be updating regularly but I can't make any promises. I have some chapters written though, so I will for sure have some chapters for you guys in a week or so. Hopefully sooner. We'll see. Hope you liked the chapter and thank you for reading! :D


	32. Chapter 32- Will

Will hated shadow travel. He really hated shadow travel. But he was holding Nico's hand, so that kind of made up for it. He was thankful that Nico knew what he was doing because things could have ended very badly. However, they emerged from the shadows directly on top of Half-Blood Hill.

They landed and Delilah collapsed to the ground. After a few seconds she managed to sit up and promptly vomited.

"Fuck." She said, "I'm never taking you guys anywhere again. I'm concussed"

Then she laid down in the grass and covered her face with her hands.

Will looked over at Nico. His face was paler than usual.

"Nico, you need to sit down." Will said.

"I'm fine." Nico retorted.

He definitely wasn't fine.

"You're about to pass out." Will said.

"I am not. I shadow travel all the time." Nico grumbled, then he promptly passed out.

Will caught him in a fireman's carry and glanced at Delilah.

"Delilah, you need to come by the infirmary and get checked out."

She groaned, but got to her feet.

"Am I supposed to be seeing double?" She asked.

"No. You're probably right about that concussion. Now come on." Will said, and headed down the hill.

They arrived to the back of the Big House without many questions.

Will placed Nico gently in a bed as Kayla and Austin walked in.

"What happened!?" Kayla asked.

"Long story. Lots of empousaii. Delilah is probably going to die when Chiron finds out."

Delilah smiled dryly from across the room. One of Will's brothers, Nick, was checking her head.

"I think I'll be okay," She said knowingly. Will shook his head.

"You're crazy."

"You know it, bro." She smiled.

Will turned his attention back to Nico. He was paler than usual, but otherwise he seemed fine. Will got some Gatorade and poured it into Nico's mouth.

"He won't be waking up for a while," Will said, glancing at Nico fondly. He looked good even when he was unconscious.

At that moment Jason and Percy appeared.

"Mission accomplished." Delilah said deliriously. Nick forced her to lay down.

Jason looked at Delilah, then at Percy, then back at Will.

"Will, we need to talk." They said in unison.

"What is it with you guys! There is nothing going on between-

"It isn't about that." Percy said, "We're having a counselor meeting in the rec room."

"What about? What's happened?" Will asked, getting up from Nico's bedside.

"It's Leo." Jason said.

A/N: All is well in college land. I'm gonna try and update daily but it probably won't happen. I'm at band camp right now and am doing stuff 12 hours a day... So we'll see. Hope you liked the chapter and thanks for reading :D


	33. Chapter 33- Nico

Nico woke up in the infirmary's main area. Why did he always end up in the infirmary? It was almost seven o'clock. He got up and looked around. He wasn't in his own private room, which meant he was probably going to be fine.

Where was everyone, Nico wondered as he looked around. He hadn't been in this main part of the infirmary before. He glanced to his right and was surprised to see someone else asleep in a bed. It was Delilah

She was crazy, Nico thought, but he'd had fun at the mall with Will, so he supposed he owed her.

He walked towards the door just as Will opened it. Will jumped a foot in the air when he saw Nico.

"Hey," Nico said, "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours…" Will said, "Nico we need to talk. Something's happened."

Nico instinctively reached for his sword.

"No, no! It isn't bad! It's good news. Come on!" Will said, dragging Nico out of the infirmary.

The camp was in chaos. People were running around and talking to each other excitedly. Percy and Annabeth were standing near the lake talking animatedly with Jason and Piper. They didn't pay Will and Nico any attention.

Nico wasn't sure what had made Will and the rest of camp so excited. He was practically being dragged along behind Will.

"Will. What's going on?" Nico asked as they reached the Hades cabin.

Will grinned and pulled something out of his shorts pocket.

It was a scroll.

"Here. You need to listen to this." Will said, positively beaming.

"Listen to… This is a scroll, Solace. What is going on?" Nico asked fiercely.

"Just open it." Will said, handing Nico the scroll. "It came fluttering in on the wind this morning. Right after we left."

Nico took the parchment from Will and unrolled it. As soon as he did a holographic figure popped up.

Nico blanched and dropped the scroll. The holographic image didn't disappear. Leo's face was still staring up at Nico, smiling. Almost like a ghost.

Nico could barely focus on the words Leo was saying. Not that they made much sense anyway. He was cutting in and out. The point was clear though. He was alive.

The video ended with Leo's typical "funny" sense of humor. Will was still grinning at Nico. Why was he so happy about this!?

"Isn't it great!?" Will said, picking up the scroll, "Nico, Leo is alive!"

"Give that to me," Nico snarled and snatched the scroll out of Will's hands. Will looked at him in shock.

"Nico, what's wrong!?"

"You didn't tell me until now!?" Nico roared.

"I didn't know until shortly after we got back. You were out cold. I told you as soon as you woke up. What's wrong?" Will asked, reaching for Nico's arm.

Nico pulled away and stormed into his cabin. Will followed. Nico wasn't sure if he was glad or angry about this. He was livid. His breathing was ragged and he played the scroll again.

"I am going to kill him." Nico growled. The ground was steaming.

"Nico… I'm confused. Isn't it good news that Leo is alive?" Will asked, tentatively.

"I felt him die! I felt him die! And it was MY fault! I let Octavian kill himself and Leo died in the process! This doesn't make sense!" Nico raged.

Will suddenly crossed the room and hugged Nico.

Nico froze. He was still mad, but Will had that annoying calming affect.

After a second, Nico hugged him back.

Will pulled away and looked into Nico's eyes intently.

Why was he so tall? Nico wondered. Why were people allowed to look this good? Curse Apollo and the attractive genes he passed on to his children.

"Nico. It wasn't your fault that Leo died. It wasn't your fault Octavian died either. He made his choice and we had to let it happen. I get that you're mad, but you know, it's okay to be happy that Leo's alive too." Will said, smiling down at Nico.

"I'm still going to kill him." Nico grumbled as he let go of Will.

"You say that, but you and I both know that you won't do that." Will said.

He leaned against the doorway and Nico had to force his eyes away.

It shouldn't be legal for someone to look that good without trying. It shouldn't be legal to always be that kind. It definitely shouldn't be legal for Will to make Nico feel the way he did.

A/N: Hi friends! I've made it to college! Moved in and everything! Tomorrow is my last day of band camp. Hopefully regular updates will resume!


End file.
